Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the plot. Thanks for reading, let me know what you think of it.

Importance of Clothes

Being petted like a domesticated animal was not what Barsad had come here for. Had asked for. Only he didn't want to order the other man to kiss him, because that would be crossing a moral line for him. He was Kei's superior, and older, and he didn't want there to be any question about Kei's willingness in this. So he couldn't order Kei to kiss him. He could order him to stop petting him, yes, but he wanted Kei to want to touch him altogether. And the man did seem to take things the wrong way sometimes so better to keep his mouth shut, right?

But then finally Kei's hands were sliding back up to frame his face, turning his head a little as Kei started to lower his own head.

"I haven't done this in years. I'll be a little out of practice."

The lips that brushed his were soft as a breeze, testing, and then Kei's lips pressed firmly against his, no hesitation now as the alpha took control of his mouth. And while Barsad had kissed and been kissed by his fair share of alphas in the past, he could honestly say that he'd never been kissed like this before.

It wasn't just that Kei was so leisurely about it, but how in tune the alpha was with him. Most of them were all heat and power, tasting of lust while hands groped and fingers dug in. Kei though…his touch was firm but very gentle on his face, and the alpha was kissing him like he too was experimenting. Learning the taste and feel of his lips for what seemed like hours before Kei stroked his tongue over his lips, asking for entrance without demanding. And when Barsad opened his mouth….oh.

Barsad actually felt his knees go weak as the minutes went by and the kisses became hotter, deeper, and more thorough in their exploration. And with every swipe and rub of his tongue Kei was proving very well that he actually could be observant about more than music, quickly picking up exactly how Barsad wanted to be kissed as Kei's hands made minute adjustments to better the angle and change the way their lips met, seeming to invent new ways to kiss him.

Which was why Barsad's nails dug into his palms hard enough to draw blood from the effort not to touch him. Or grab onto those broad shoulders for the support he desperate needed as the kissing just went on and on. Just kissing, Barsad, marveled, with no expectation of more.

And he couldn't say exactly why but Barsad was suddenly reminded of his grandfather, and the way the old man used to take a hunk of wood and study it from all angles, sliding his hands over the surface again and again until he'd mapped it all out in his hands and mind. Necessary, his grandfather had always said, because how could he know what to carve it into if he didn't know every inch of it. What it desired to become. That was how Kei kissed, Barsad thought. Like he was learning every part of him to get the best possible results.

He actually made a sound of distress when Kei pulled away, the alpha looking at him with interest.

"You make very pretty sounds."

Staring up at him, process his words, Barsad honest to god felt his cheeks heat up in a blush. And he hadn't done that in…possibly ever.

Hands dropping away Kei tilted his head slightly to the side, watching him. "Did the kisses answer your question?"

Finding words beyond him, mortification and the lingering effects of the kisses screwing with his ability to speak, Barsad had to settle for nodding. The question of whether Kei just interested him for the puzzle he presented, or if his fascination was of a more personal nature, had definitely been answered.

"So we're done? I should get some sleep."

And now he was insulted. "Did you enjoy that at all?"

"Kissing you?"

Barsad nodded.

"Yes. Like I said, you make very pretty sounds. And you taste good too."

He could feel his cheeks heating up again. Crap. He shouldn't have asked.

Desperate to regain some of his dignity Barsad cleared his throat and stated that yes, that was everything. And he'd be going now.

"All right. Good night."

And so saying Kei turned around and walked across the room, Barsad's eyes all but bugging out of his head as Kei reached down and undid the knot that had been holding his towel in place, revealing his naked backside for Barsad's viewing pleasure as Kei tossed the towel over a nearby chair.

The lighting wasn't great, but not even that could hide the excellence of the alpha's ass as the other man walked over to the unoccupied bed. And without a hint of modesty or even awareness that Barsad was still there Kei pulled back the covers and then slid onto the bed to curl up on his side. Ready for bed and…and Barsad was just standing there watching him like a perverted idiot.

Feeling like an idiot Barsad turned around and let himself out, unable to believe his life.

As for the walk back to his room and who he might have encountered, Barsad didn't remember any of it. His mind was elsewhere.

)

Blake's morning had started off nicely, Bane's chest an excellent source of warmth to sleep on. Waking up on top of the man had been no hardship, nor had the nice blowjob he'd woken the man up with since he was in such a good mood thanks to the sex from the night before. And the happiness of discovering that Bane's bed had a good mattress and not the alternatives he'd been dreading, too.

Bane had certainly enjoyed the wakeup call, which he'd proven by fucking his brains out. Bless him.

Then, unfortunately, someone had come to deliver their disgusting breakfast. Oatmeal. Crappy oatmeal. Which he had to eat alone, too, because of course Bane had refused to eat with him. And now Bane was gone, and he was left here, alone, with no idea what to do with himself.

He'd looked at the books on Bane's bookshelves, but most of them weren't in English. And those that were, well he wasn't interested in reading them. Or at least he wasn't bored enough to do so yet.

God he hoped Simon showed up soon.

Laying spread eagle on the bed, wearing nothing but one of Bane's shirts since his Master had forgotten that he was without clothes, Blake wondered if maybe it wouldn't be better if Simon didn't see him while he was dressed like this. He wasn't sure how Bane would feel about it. But there was no way on God's green earth he was willing to wear the clothes he'd come here with. They would stay in a heap on the floor of the bathroom until he had new clothes to wear.

Okay, if it was those clothes of going naked he'd suck it up, but he was going to avoid that possibility as long as possible.

Wondering how he'd clean the disgusting things, it wasn't like there would be washing machines around, Blake was imagining the horrors of having to beat at them with rocks like he'd read about somewhere when there was a knock at the door.

Calling out for whoever it was to enter, Blake slid off the bed as in came Simon, who was looking especially handsome today. Though a lot of that was probably due to the fact that the alpha had bathed for the first time since he'd seen him, Blake mused with a smirk.

"You look ridiculous in that shirt."

"Thanks."

Shrugging, the alpha wandered over to take a seat on the lone chair in the room. "Do you know what we're supposed to do? I think Father was supposed to come with me, and maybe tell me what we're supposed to do, but he's still sick. He's going to die soon, I think."

Some would think Simon heartless to speak in such an emotionless tone of voice, but Blake knew the boy better than that. Knew that Simon felt just like everyone else, only he didn't know how to show or express it like other people could.

Mentally saying to hell with Bane's no touching rule, his instincts were screaming at him, Blake walked over and placed his hand on Simon's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "I'm sorry to hear that. He seems like a good man." For a member of the League of Shadows.

"I think that's why Ra's al Ghul sent me here even though he had to know I'd be one of the worst guards ever. This way Father can't demand that he take care of me after he dies. He'll die and al Ghul will order Bane to kill me. His hands will be clean then."

"His hands haven't been clean for decades. And we'll run before I'll stand by and let Bane kill you."

"Now you're being stupid. I'd rather a quick death at Bane's hand then a slow, agonizing one in the desert with you. And we would die out there. You know we would. We're city boys."

Okay. He had a point. Unfortunately.

"Then we'll just have to convince Bane that you're useful enough to make him write back or whatever to al Ghul saying that you're enough of an asset to keep around."

The look Simon gave him suggested that it was more likely for ice cream to start raining down from the sky.

Ice cream

Momentarily sidetracked by that thought, Blake allowed himself a moment to mourn the end of heavenly hash, cookies and cream, and just straight chocolate ice cream. Come to think of it, his last real meal had been heated up pizza and nearly flat coke.

What the hell kind of last meal was that? People getting the chair got better than that. That was just so fucking unfair. He was seriously logging a complaint with the universe over this. That was just cruel and unusual punishment. The coke could have at least been fresh!

But back to the problem at hand, Blake told himself sternly, even as his stomach grumbled in continued protest.

"Look, we'll start with bulking you up a little more. You're an alpha, so it won't even take much effort on your part." Lucky bastard. "And yes, I know you don't like working out, but you're gonna have to suck that up, Buttercup. I can show you some stuff now, and tonight I'll ask if both you and I can use his personal weight room or the public one I'm assuming there has to be." He'd prefer to use the one he'd discovered next door to Bane's bedroom, but he wasn't even going in there without Bane's permission.

A man with a body like Bane's took working out seriously. One did not enter his happy place without permission.

"I guess." Simon sighed as he said it, his complete lack of interest obvious.

Knowing his quarry well, Blake promised that if Simon followed his workout regime there would be musical rewards. That at least got the alpha's interest.

"Even if I bulk up that won't make Bane less inclined to kill me."

"But it will show effort. Plus I can teach you other stuff that will help you when he decides to test whether you're a halfway decent fighter or not. I've been getting private tutoring almost since they took you. With me as your teacher, you'll be able to handle yourself before you know it."

"You do remember all the other stuff you tried and failed to teach me, right?"

Yes. Yes he did. Unfortunately.

"Your life wasn't on the line if you didn't learn it before. And we both know that you can learn things when you have no choice. Consider this one of those cases. And yes this won't be painless, but at the end of the day…you want to live, right?"

"I'm not scared to die."

"I know you're not. We both made our peace with dying a long time ago. But let's put it off, alright?"

"Okay. John?"

"Yeah?"

"We better not spar until you have proper clothes on and Bane's permission. If Bane sees us rolling around while you're wearing that, he'll kill me ahead of schedule."

Laughing, he couldn't help it, Blake agreed that yes, that would be the case.

)

So they spent some time doing some stretches and such to at least limber up a bit, Simon grumbling under his breath but cooperating for the time being. And then, because they were both still worn out from their trip across the desert, Blake agreed to Simon's request to go over the songs he'd taught him from 'Hamilton', having a sort of duet that sounded freaking amazing despite the obvious rustiness of Simon's voice. Simon had a stunning voice, at least in Blake's opinion, and he'd often thought that Simon could make a living if not for the fact that the media would eat him alive, on top of the fact that Simon had never been interested in that career choice. Actually, Simon had never had a job goal, which had always worried him and the other adults in Simon's life.

Regardless, they got lucky in that neither of them was singing when Blake's ears picked up the sound of approaching footsteps. Not Bane's.

So there was a healthy distance between him and Simon when the door opened and in stepped Barsad.

Whose gaze went immediately to Simon, Blake noted, holding there for just a moment too long before the mercenary's eyes shifted over in his direction. Interesting.

Barsad looked at him, his expression revealing nothing as he asked if Bane had ordered him to wear what he was wearing.

"No. I didn't have anything else."

The other man seemed to consider this. "I'll be back shortly. You'll wear what I bring you and then you'll both come with me."

And so saying Barsad turned around and let himself out again.

Waiting a minute, he wasn't an idiot, Blake waited until he was fairly sure that Barsad was out of hearing distance before asking Simon if anything new had happened between him and Bane's second.

"Not really." Simon shrugged. "He asked me to kiss him. For an experiment."

"Ah.' That would do it.

He didn't have any personal experience, obviously, but he had heard that the alpha was an extremely skilled kisser. Plus he'd made the mistake of asking Simon about his relationship with…he couldn't remember the omega's name, but the amount of detail Simon had gone into…well he could have done without the knowledge. Though it had given him an idea of just how Simon approached physical contact with someone. And why that approach could potentially get Simon into hot water with the wrong type of person.

And if he was reading Barsad right...

"Simon. Unless you like Barsad I wouldn't kiss him again."

"I liked kissing him."

"I'm sure you did. But your…style…is what he's looking for in a lover. And if you keep kissing him he might get the wrong idea, and that will mess things up even more for you. I don't think he'd be vindictive about it, but having him not hate you would help us."

"I told him I wouldn't have sex with him."

"That's a start." His read on Barsad was that the man wouldn't use his power to try and force the matter with Simon, and even if he did Simon wouldn't cooperate. Simon only touched when he wanted to touch. Try to force the issue and he'd go Ice King on the person's ass.

Which reminded him that he needed to teach Simon 'Let it Go'. He'd friggin love that song.

Naturally Simon didn't look at all worried when Blake focused his attention back on him. Instead the alpha seemed to be lost in serious thought about something.

"What are you thinking?"

"Well I was thinking about kissing…and I know you can't kiss Bane because of his mask, but there are other ways to make someone make good noises, and I was wondering…doesn't that mask muffle them so you can't hear them?"

Since Simon viewed sex as playing the human body like an instrument, the goal to make the other person make the prettiest sounds possible, Blake could understand why Simon was actually showing interest in his sex life.

"I make enough noise for the both of us."

"Oh. That makes sense."

And thinking it best to leave it at that, since he did NOT want either of them to be discussing sex when Barsad returned, Blake asked Simon if he wanted to hear about the Disney movies and songs that he'd missed since he'd been captured by the League.

Simon friggin loved Disney, so of course the answer was yes. And he immediately wanted to hear every new song Disney had come up with in his absence, which wasn't going to happen since one, Blake didn't have them all memorized, and two, he knew prime bribing material when he had it. So instead he just gave Simon some idea of what the songs were about and who sang them, promising to actually sing the ones he remembered in exchange for Simon spending time in the gym working out.

The alpha was bargaining him about just how much working out he had to do per song when Barsad reappeared with some articles of clothing draped over one arm, the beta's eyes going straight to Simon again before he threw the clothes over to Blake in a nice way, which he appreciated.

"Go try those on. Kei and I will wait for you out here."

Clothes in hand Blake considered ordering the two not to do anything he wouldn't do while he was gone…and then realized that there was a lot he would do that he didn't want them doing.

So instead he gave the beta a jaunty salute and headed for the bathroom to get changed as quickly as possible.

Just in case.