"It's not as if you were looking at me in that way," he said, sounding upset and embarrassed. "I didn't think you were interested in the sight. I'm not much to look at." Dain hunched his shoulders. "I thought you liked me well enough to overlook my appearance. I know I'm no match for Zhiolas or Alluin, and I saw how you looked at them when you first saw them here in Faery."

"Yeah, well, I wasn't sure how you'd feel about me going sightseeing right now," I said, trying to be kind. "As for enjoying your appearance, all else being equal, I'd rather have your body naked than Zhiolas or Alluin's. I've got a pretty damning browser history on that account, honestly."

"Do I want to know what that means?" Dain asked.

"Better question: Do I want you to know what that means?"

He flicked his eyes over to look at me sidelong; I gave him my most innocent smile in return.

"I... want to believe you," he said slowly. "I'm..." Dain wrapped one arm across his chest, a vulnerable posture. "I'm not sure how easy that will be. I've never been... admired like that."

"I've always admired the way you look," I said with a half-smile. "It's never been me overlooking your appearance. I like it all."

Dain watched me for a few moments, longing on his face, then huffed out a breath and returned to washing his copious amounts of fur.

"I can leave you to your bath, if you want," I offered after a few minutes of watching him scrub. "I wanted to clear the air, and I hope I've done that. Can you stop avoiding me, now? I can't handle you spending the rest of our time running away from me. I really miss you."

Dain stopped scrubbing at that. "You... miss me?"

"Is that really an actual question you have?" I asked, surprised. "Have you forgotten how stressed and miserable I was while you were at the Court of Mercy? It's not like I was sleeping in your bed for any other reason besides wanting to be close to you."

He went silent for a long time, looking down at the bath water, his ears shifting. Several times he moved like he was going to say something, inhaling and lifting his chin as he opened his mouth, and then dropped his chin again, his face going tense. "You didn't... know," Dain said at last, his voice thick and catching on the words. "I'm... not the sort of man people often... love." The words sounded grinding, heavy with misery. "You still want to spend time with me?" he asked, lifting his head at last to look at me, breathing hard. "Even... even knowing?"