Sanctuary Walls; Welcome Me Home

BT reacted very similar to Barry when they reached her apartment, taking in the tiny space before he commented on the 'ungodly' number of teas she had stacked on the shelf. Placing his half-finished hot chocolate on the counter, he looked over the way she had organized her kitchen, leading into the bedroom area of the studio apartment. A small shelf of books—mostly textbooks—occupied its own little corner, along with her laptop and all appropriate charging cords.

Iris hung up her coat in the closet as he looked around—not that there was much to inspect—and repeated the action with the one he had draped across her bed. He was occupied reading the textbooks she had acquired, so Iris turned and flopped herself backward onto her bed. The rush of air huffed from her lungs, blankets fluffing up around her and the whisps of freed hair tickling around her face.

BT turned at the sound, a subdued smile touching his lips as he took in his emotionally exhausted soulmate.

Moving to perch himself at the foot of the bed, he took one of her hands gently and cradled it as she turned her head to look at him with tired eyes. "Do you want to come to our place tonight? Or I could stay here with you?"

"I can't ask you to do that," she replied quietly, blinking slowly against the urge to sleep. Or pass out.

Smiling and moving to lie on the bed next to her, he kept his legs draped off of the side. "Good thing I'm offering, instead."

Turning her hand over to return his grip, she closed her eyes with a soft sigh. Did she want to run away again? Although, she could suppose it didn't count as running away. Her time spent with her soulmates had resulted in some of the best sleep she'd had in months. Without having to worry about her, there was little doubt that the others had felt the same.

Patricia had first made the offer to her in order to give her the peace of mind that she could come to them, be safe with them. And BT had taken her earlier words to heart, giving her the choice rather than telling her that she was going to be staying with them. Even providing the option to stay at her own apartment left her breathing a bit easier—there was nothing constricting about his offer.

BT gave her all the time she needed to think. Making himself more comfortable on the bed, he rolled slightly to face her better as he brought her hand up to kiss her knuckles.

The longer she stayed lying on her back, the familiar comfort of her bed beneath her and her soulmate crowded into her side, the more fatigue pressed down on her. Iris opened her eyes again just to make sure she didn't start to doze off on him. The fact that she was already so tired answered her debate on whether she wanted to leave or not, but the decision remained regarding BT's offer to stay.

"What do you work tomorrow?"

"Barry's got a half day tomorrow, starts at 4 if I remember correctly. You're off tomorrow?"

Nodding her head, she found her eyes drifting closed without realizing and quickly blinked to wake herself up. BT smiled softly at her, reaching forward to smooth her loosened hair back from her face. "Would you like to stay?" she finally offered, rolling over until they were facing one another. She was short enough that tucking her legs up meant they weren't hanging off the edge of the bed anymore.

They were left nearly chest to chest. BT could smell the peppermint hot chocolate on her breath.

"I'd love to," he assured.

Already she was drifting again, leaning into his hand. "Don't have any clothes for you," she mumbled in warning. BT repressed the urge to laugh at her slurring speech—and the continued concern she had for the comfort of others, even while falling sleep.

"I'll manage, Doll. Let's get you tucked ready for bed."

He knew she wouldn't want to go to sleep while wearing her work clothes so he gently pulled away and moved to stand in front of her, taking her hands and hoisting her up into a sitting position. "I have to shower," she grumbled, swinging her legs off the bed again and leaning forward to rest her forehead against his arm.

BT chuckled, "Well, that'll be step one."

Helping her to her feet, he guided her toward the door that he could already see led into a small washroom. She quickly checked the back of the door to make sure her towel was still hanging there before she glanced back at BT. He had moved to collect his discarded drink and was now looking over the small spice rack that sat on the top of her fridge. She felt bad that she didn't have a television or something for him to entertain himself with, but she didn't intend to take too long.

Closing the door behind her, she quickly shucked off her clothes from her day—feeling dirtier than usual—and turned on the shower to give it time to warm. Brushing her teeth in the meantime, she avoided looking in the mirror. She knew what sight would meet her; pasty skin, shadows beneath her eyes, that familiar panicked glaze across her eyes.

She was so sick of that sight.

Quickly dipping her fingers beneath the spray and adjusting the temperature, Iris spat out the toothpaste and rinsed the sink before she stepped into the smallish stall.

Nothing felt better after a day like hers than a hot shower. It soothed the ache that had build up between her shoulders as she desperately tried to act normal in front of Jessica, the faint headache that lingered inside her temples also eased just a bit more. Best of all, the filthy feeling that clung to her after hanging up on that man was washed away with each scalding droplet. Her showers always verged on the side of too-hot, but the high temperature was the only thing that seemed to help.

Once she had fully scrubbed down, she stepped out into the steamy air and blindly sought out her towel. She kicked aside the lump of clothes she had left sitting on the floor and quickly started toweling herself down before the water had a chance to cool on her skin. Ringing the remnants of water out of her hair, she paused while leaning over the sink as she realized she had forgotten something.

She never brought her clothing into the room with her. No need when she lived alone. But now BT was out in the main area of her apartment and her clothes required her to walk around her bed and into the small closet nook, then back around the bed and into the bathroom to actually dress.

All while in her towel.

Her face pinched with embarrassment as she dropped her head backward, long strands of wet hair falling across her exposed back.

Perhaps if she hadn't been so ready to sleep when she stepped into the room, she'd have remembered this step of her nightly routine sooner. Unfortunately, there was little she could do now.

Normally, she would twist her hair and hang it over her shoulder. This time, she shook the wet locks out around her shoulders in an attempt to cover some of her skin. Then, she scooped her dirty clothes up into her arms and stood in front of the bathroom door.

Since when had that door seemed so imposing?

Knowing that delaying would only make her nerves worse, she twisted the knob and opened the door a crack. BT was sitting on the end of her bed, one of her textbooks in his hands as he read over where she had left off. From the size of it, she assumed it was the accounting one she had purchased to help her with balancing the books for work.

"I gotta say, this stuff goes right over my head," he commented. Clearly, he had heard the door open.

Resting her head against the doorframe for a moment to collect herself, Iris opened the door enough to slip out. "I never used to get it either; helps if you start reading at the beginning," she responded, trying to keep her voice light even as she felt her throat tightening.

"Ha-ha," BT jester, smiling as he straightened up then glanced over his shoulder to where she stood. His smile froze on his face for a second, then lessened as his eyes widened. "Woah."

Iris could feel the blood rush to her cheeks as she shyly backed up to cover herself with the frame of the bathroom's doorway. No one had ever seen so much of her—even her parents stopped letting her show so much skin after enough marks had revealed themselves over her childhood. The cooler air outside of the room caused her skin to prickle and pebble; the dirty clothes bunched to her chest preventing her nipples from showing through the towel. The water saturating her hair was cooling rapidly, only making her feel colder by the second.

BT recognized her discomfort and stutter for a moment before he turned away from her and stood up, moving hurriedly toward the kitchen. As he was walking, he lifted her accounting book up to cover his face. "Sorry! I'll just-OW!" Without the ability to see where he was going, his knee rammed into the cabinet of her kitchen, stopping his forward momentum.

Iris gasped at the loud bang that accompanied the contact, one hand shooting to her mouth, before the absurdity of the situation became too much and she burst into a fit of giggles.

BT remained with his face in her book but was now hunched over until both were resting on the surface of her counter. "At least it wasn't my toe," he grumbled just loud enough for her to hear. Iris tried to compose herself, quickly shuffling across the room while his back was to her. Dumping her work clothes into the hamper, she collected her night-clothes in record time. Darting back toward the bathroom, she paused in the doorway.

"Are you okay?" she asked hesitantly while sliding into the bathroom but not closing the door.

"Good!" he assured, even throwing a thumbs-up in her direction.

Even though she felt bad that he had hurt himself, the entire incident had helped alleviate her nerves remarkably well. She laughed out a soft 'okay' before closing herself into the bathroom again.

BT remained hunched over the counter, the brief shock of pain in his knee long gone. Briefly, he wondered if she had been able to see the blush that had gone all the way to his ears and down his neck. He hadn't even thought about the fact that she had gone straight into the bathroom—of course she wouldn't have any clothes for when she came out. There had been no preparing for seeing her standing in only a towel when he'd looked back at her.

The thinness that he felt through her clothes was much more noticeable when she was uncovered, but the definition in her arms had been another surprise. No one she'd been hefting those boxes with such ease. The water in her hair was already started dripping down her arms and chest, causing the light to catch them like jewels glittering on her skin. The bundle of clothes she'd been holding had blocked a good majority of her torso, but the way her hair had plastered to her skin beneath her collarbone gave hint to the swell of her breasts.

Even if only a glimpse, the image of her standing wet, in only a towel, would remain seared into his memory.

She was so pale, the soulmarks that cross along her body were immediately eye-catching. Logically, having twenty-three soulmates should have prepared him for seeing so many marks, but it was still a shock when put face to face with him. Her arms were decorated with the words of all the others he knew in Kevin's body—his mark, however, was not so easily seen and it made him wonder if it was somewhere down on her legs.

Was it wrong of him to regret not looking down to her legs while he'd had the chance?

Thinking back on it only made him ache, so BT quickly pushed away from the counter and ran his hands rapidly over the bristle of his growing hair. He needed to shave it again soon. Distracting himself with considering when the best time would be to get that done, he paced the tiny space of her kitchen as he waited for her to come back out.

How was he going to look her in the eye without blushing after that?

The drifting thought only caused his mind to reconjure the image of her in that towel.

Damn.

Before he had more time to torture himself, the bathroom door opened again. Lunging for the discarded book on the counter, BT tried to make it look as though he had been busy while she changed. As though worried someone else would be waiting for her, Iris peeked around the doorframe before she opened the door the rest of the way.

Did she always do that?

It made him think that she was on guard, worried that her home wasn't entirely safe. Or was it just leftover shyness from what had just transpired?

"Uhm…you can shower here if you want," she offered quietly, motioning back behind her.

BT was momentarily tempted to accept, but there had already been enough awkward near-nakedness for one day. "I'm good. Today was an easy day so I'll be fine until tomorrow. Barry'll have the time when he goes home tomorrow before work." He did, however, shrug out of the sweater he had donned beneath his work coat, revealing a simple black t-shirt that hugged his biceps and torso. It also face her a view of how broad his shoulders really were, the definition leading up toward his neck thick with muscle.

Iris's eyes quickly flitted over the newly revealed skin of his arms, along with several soulmarks that she was certain she was yet to say.

Not wanting to intrude on what most consider private, she busied herself with turning on her small heater and shuffling some of the pillows around on her bed to better suit two people. BT returned her book where he had found it and stood back as Iris circled around her bed like a busy bee, adjusting the pillows and folding down the duvet.

"Oh!" she gasped suddenly, darting back into the bathroom. The sleep pants she was wearing hung past her ankle—he was surprised she didn't trip herself. When she reappeared, she was carrying a toothbrush in a new package. "After Barry and Patricia both stayed over, I felt bad that I had nothing for you guys here, so I bought some simple toiletries. There's a little travel toothpaste as well. At least you won't have stale chocolate stuck in your mouth."

Her excitement over the simple action brought a smile to his face as BT accepted her offering. "Thanks, Doll. I hadn't even thought of that yet."

Shrugging bashfully, she stepped out of his way and motioned toward the bathroom in a 'help yourself' gesture.

After he'd stepped into the smaller room and closed the door, she dropped to sit on the edge of her bed and let out a long, shaking breath. The heat in her face told her that she was still blushing, made worse after he'd removed his sweater to show the definition in his arms. Cupping her own cheeks, she hoped that the chill in her palms would be enough to relieve some of the heat that had accumulated there.

Before she had gone into her shower, things had been comfortable between the two of them. Now, it felt like something had changed. The air was…thicker. She'd intended to tell him that he could take his pants off and sleep in his boxers, but now the thought of making such an offer seemed like it would come through with a different connotation.

Making a soft little sound of discomfort, she jumped back to her feet and went about the rest of her nightly routine. Double-checking the door locks, the windows, grabbing two glasses of water in case either of them wanted something to drink through the night. She discarded their empty cups and filled her kettle for the morning. By the time BT re-emerged, she had done a sweep of her entire apartment and had returned to the bed and was pulling back the duvet completely.

The thought of crawling under her sheets prompted a yawn to drop open her jaw.

BT's hand came to rest atop her head; her hair felt cool to the touch from her shower.

"Let's get you in bed," he directed, helping her under the covers.