Chapter 2: Imperfect Start
"So, what was your name anyway? I know you told me, but I'm really tired, so..." The man smiled again, a shy, apologetic twitch of the mouth that made Isaac faintly ill at ease. "I'm Piers. I guess it can't be helped. We're all tired." He pulled his legs up on the bed, ending up sitting two feet away from him. An awkward silence followed, and for a moment Isaac thought of filling it with talk of the lighthouses, but decided on bland chatter about nothing instead. "Did you see Felix and Mia downstairs? Sure looks like they're getting along, even though they just met each other. What do you think?" He managed to do a convincing conspiratory smirk, even though talking about the people he'd fought with and against for such a long time made him uncomfortable - and so did Piers, even though he wasn't as bad. He was just a little too polite, but it still made Isaac a bit shakier. "Well, you seem to notice the same things as me. They are a tiny bit too familiar, seeing as they only met a few hours ago. In fact, I went up here to you in part because Garet was getting pretty worked up over the two going to their rooms seconds after each other." Piers had gotten an odd glint in his eyes, and Isaac felt relieved when it seemed he was opening up. He'd seemed too secretive before. Then, with his face split open in a wide grin, Piers continued, "May be something about their elements. After what I've seen, there seems to be something with Venus and Mercury." Isaac twitched a tiny bit. Was he insinuating something? He seemed like the type of guy who'd do that, but he was probably joking, or else Isaac was just imagining things. There was no way someone would be that obvious, but still, Isaac became far too aware of how naked he was. Way too naked to sit in the same room as a man he'd never met before. Sure, he wasn't ugly, but it was hard to judge with a guy. Isaac's hand moved toward the blanket at his waist, but Piers' finger was there, holding down the only method of decency. Then he smiled, the exact same shy smile, not the disturbing smirk from before. Maybe he was just joking. Garet had done this once, and they'd spent hours laughing afterwards. Then Piers' lips moved for a bit. Was that... Yeah, there was no mistaking it. "I'm just as embarrassed as you are." Isaac felt himself blush, something that was clearly counterproductive. He tried to pull away, but he was shaking way too much to get up fast, and before he could concentrate on getting away, Piers had slung his legs around his waist, weighing down on his thighs. Isaac could feel Piers shivering just like him, but was it for the same reason as him? He'd pulled his head back as much as he could, but the wall was in the way, and Piers had leaned all the way up against him. Pushed up against the cold wall, he watched Piers pull his robes off in a brisk movement, leaving only a few modesty-retaining scraps of cloth around his hips. Isaac was completely certain by now that he was blushing worse than ever before, and he focused on keeping calm and attempting to make it through, as Piers had pulled off his undershirt and had undone his ponytail, letting his long hair fall in front of his face. His lips were the only thing visible as he spoke one word that was painfully clear in Isaac's ears, just as the movements of his lips seemed to be played in slow-motion. "Cute."