Sage Monroe (turnitup) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2022-11-03 23:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, marshall, marshall x sage, sage |
Who: Sage and Marsh
Where: Starting at Dragonfly
When: Thursday, July 5th @ 11:15pm
Warning: Mildly NSFW
Status: Complete
“Sage. It’s clean. Take your tips and head on out.”
With a heavy sigh, Sage dropped the rag behind the counter and started towards the door. He’d thought leaving would be easy after his first night on the job had gone so well, but he’d underestimated the high of the situation–the bar was packed until close because of the holiday and people were still milling about outside even after that. Tonight the bar had been quiet, with only a handful of people there until last call, and he hadn’t seen a soul except Nate once they’d closed. That he was anxious inside the bar spoke volumes to the level of stress he felt and the second he stepped outside it all came crashing down. The streets were quiet, but his heart was racing. Every little noise made him jump. Before he could get more than ten feet from the door, he rushed back inside. Nate looked up from behind the cash register, concerned, and Sage waved him off.
“I just… need a minute,” Sage said, and pulled out his phone. He worried his bottom lip with his teeth as he debated with himself, not sure if he should do anything at all, but maybe just talking to someone could help him get to his car. It felt like a solid plan. If he couldn’t squash the fear, maybe he could distract himself from it. Are you still up? he texted Marsh, nervously watching to see if a response came through. If not, he could try Austin or Foster, but after shuffling all his stuff around their house the last few days he really didn’t want to ask another favor of them, even just a little one.
Marsh was a man who was usually in bed well before midnight and up before six in the morning but tonight he was still awake and still up even if he was getting tired. He knew Sage was working and he knew Sage had problems with the dark so the whole combo was just a really crappy idea. He'd considered texting him to offer to pick him up but then he'd had to remind himself that Sage was a grown man and if he wanted to tackle his own fears on his own, that was his right; he didn't belong to Marsh and he wasn't Marsh's to fix. And yet he felt a weird mix of appreciation and worry when he received a text from him, quickly thumbing back, Yup! Call me
It was still early so he didn't think Sage was home yet and he had to force himself not to put on shoes and go to the car already. Maybe he was just checking in, or maybe he was already in the car and wanted to come over. He paced a little until the phone rang, then let it ring a couple of times before answering out of some dumb obligation to himself not to come off as too worried. "Hey, you still at the bar?"
A wave of relief washed over Sage when Marsh replied and he called him immediately, too caught up in his own situation to think about how that might look. His fingers tapped nervously on his thigh as he waited for Marsh to pick up, even while he told himself he needed to calm the fuck down. “Hey,” he sighed. “Yeah… yeah, I’m still here. Just… trying to work up the nerve to walk to my car.” He laughed softly, as if this were amusing, though it felt anything but. It was fear that stalled his feet, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t battling with anger and frustration at the same time. He was a grown man. He shouldn’t be afraid of the dark. He’d done this yesterday without near the same level of anxiety. Sage hated the lack of consistency, but worse, he hated how it made him feel. Weak. Scared. Childish and spineless. Words he didn’t want Marsh to associate with him, but if he didn’t call him, he might never leave. He might just close his eyes and disappear until morning, when it was safe.
"Do you want me to come get you?" Marsh asked as he realized he'd been right and Sage was kind of trapped by his fears. "I can drive you home, or you can stay here tonight, if you don't mind waking up stupidly early." He smiled faintly and the prospect of having Sage in his bed was a nice one, even if they only slept. Dragonfly wasn't that far from the clinic, if Sage could wake up early, Marsh could easily drop him off on the way to work so he could pick up the car in daylight.Or maybe he was making more of the situation than he needed and Sage just needed a friendly voice on the phone. Oh well, too late for take-backs.
The question made Sage pause, biting his lip as he considered the offer. It was sweet, more than he’d been expecting or would have ever asked for, and now that it was on the table it was hard to turn it down. “You mean it?” Sage asked, lips turning up despite the situation. That he was back inside Dragonfly helped as well. “I promise not to keep you up late. Later than I already have.” He could wake up whenever and walk from the clinic back to his car. It wasn’t that far a walk. He knew this wasn’t a solution to his problem, that he’d have to face it all again tomorrow night, but he could only deal with one problem at a time. “I know this is stupid. That I have to figure this out, but… if you really don’t mind, then yeah. I could use a ride.”
Marsh's pacing took him to the foyeur as soon as he knew what the answer would be. Sage's hesitance was answer enough on its own and he was already putting his shoes on when the final verdict came in. Yes, it was probably stupid to run out so late when he had work in the morning and he probably should be letting Sage face his fears, but he was feeling protective and if something actually did happen to Sage because he was alone in the night, Marsh would never forgive himself. "I don't mind at all. You're actually done early tonight," he said cheerfully because this would have sucked more if it was already midnight. "Guess everyone is still recovering from yesterday." It had been a fairly easy going Fourth of July, not a lot of dogs running away and getting hurt which was a nice surprise, in fact the day before had been far more busy, providing people with sedatives to keep their furry friends calm.
“We close earlier midweek than weekends,” Sage said quietly into the phone. “It was definitely quieter than last night. Everyone’s probably too hung over to want another drink. It might pick back up again tomorrow, just ‘cause it’s Friday, but I guess a lull is normal.” It was the quiet nights that were the hardest though, when the streets were quiet and bare and came far too close to resembling the dark side of Point Pleasant in the Other place. Last night had given him a false sense of relief, only to realize far too late that it wasn’t the norm. “Text me when you get here?” he asked. “I’m gonna wait inside. It… it feels safer.” He knew some of it was due to the magic put on the place, but it was also the four walls surrounding him with plenty of places to hide. He had to keep reminding himself that he could hide anywhere, anytime he needed to, but he hoped he didn’t have to resort to that. There was no danger in sight right now, and no reason to hide.
"Will do," Marsh promised and unlocked the car to get in. As he drove down to Dragonfly he could tell it was a very quiet night, there weren't many people milling about and he could only imagine just how terrifying it would be for Sage to walk out there alone. The sad thing was that it wasn't just some random phobia for him, he'd been through a lot and his fear of the night was built on some pretty solid foundations. The good thing about being out late on a quiet night was that he didn't have to park anywhere, he could just stop the car right outside of Dragonfly and let it idle while he texted Sage that he was there. He almost got out of the car too but that was probably pushing his luck and he was right outside the door.
Sage paced as he waited, but didn’t step outside again. Dragonfly was soothing him at the moment and he wanted to keep taking advantage of that while he could. He thought about asking Nate for some kind of a totem, to see if he could imbibe the magic he’d put in Dragonfly into some kind of object he could take with him, but he decided not to. Jocelyn had told him what he was in confidence and he didn’t think Nate was in the business of making lucky objects for people. Still, it might have helped. It would have helped him walk out the door when Marsh’s car pulled up, with only twenty feet between them. Sage took a deep breath and stepped outside, then walked as quickly as he could to Marsh’s car without outright running. Every step made him feel vulnerable, as if something could dive through the open air and knock him to the ground. His heart was pounding by the time he climbed in the car, but he was safer with Marsh beside him and the car around him. “Hey,” he whispered, turning towards Marsh. “Thanks.”
Marsh reached over and first grabbed Sage's hand reassuringly before reaching up to rub at his cheek. "Don't mention it," he said and he could easily see Sage's fear in his eyes and the way his shoulders tensed, the quick steps he'd taken to the car and the way his breath seemed a little short even without any real exertion. Most of all he could taste it though and it always gave him mixed feelings because he didn't want Sage to be afraid but it really did taste good in a way that food never could. Maybe it was a blessing he had gotten this curse or gift or whatever it was, he didn't think he'd ever lose his way to the point where he'd start to enjoy it in a dangerous way. "You know this might be the worst possible job for you," he said with a faint smile.
Sage’s eyes fell shut as Marsh touched his cheek, comforted by the touch. While Marsh made light of it, Sage knew this was an inconvenience, something that he couldn’t do on a regular basis. Tonight he’d been awake, but there was no way he could pick him up at 2am tomorrow night. Sage took a deep breath and opened his eyes, looking from Marsh out into the night. “I know,” he said with a bitter little laugh. “But I can’t do much else. I have to find a way to make this work.” Maybe he could… carpool with someone, as stupid as that sounded, but it would have to be someone who kept his hours. Or find some way to park closer, so he could sprint the distance and hopefully not have a meltdown in the process.
"Have you tried getting a really powerful flashlight?" Marsh asked as he pulled away from the curb and he wasn't really joking, there were some intense lights available, even some daylight lamps though he didn't know if those came with batteries or not. "Or is it just knowing the darkness is out there, even if there's lights where you're at?" He was genuinely curious as he could only imagine how it all affected Sage. Knowing there might be something waiting in the shadows and fearing his light might go out was nothing to joke about but Marsh wouldn't be able to do this every night, especially if Sage's shift dragged out.
“No, but that’s an idea,” Sage said thoughtfully. “Maybe if it was one of those big ones.” The ability to banish the darkness would help, but it was more than that. He wasn’t scared of the dark when it was daytime, like a dark closest or a dark room, not unless it was pitch black. Because that darkness was not vast. It was not absolute. It was easily escapable and could come with the flick of a switch. It was being in the dark outside that scared him the most, without any protection. “It’s not just the darkness. It’s what’s lurking in it. Waiting. And not being able to see it coming.” He sighed, running a hand through his hair, then tilted his head to face Marsh. “When I was over there, I had a machete. But I can’t really walk around town with one of those.”
"Yeah I have a feeling people wouldn't like that," Marsh said with a pained smile. "It's not weird, being that afraid, not after what you've been through. I hope you know that." He still didn't know just how much of Sage's story was true but he knew Sage believed all of it and that meant he wasn't lying about it. It also meant that whatever had really happened - if it wasn't exactly like he told it - had been just as harrowing and traumatizing as what Sage thought had happened. "But it might get better with time," he added. "You never know, you might be out jogging at night before you know it." Provided nothing else insanely bad happened before he had a chance to heal, Marsh could only hope this town was done with torturing him.
“I fuckin’ hate it,” Sage frowned, pulling at the frayed strands on his ripped jeans. “I want to put my life back together, but instead I’ve got a stupid new phobia fucking with my head.” He understood the rationale behind his fear, knew where it came from and why, but couldn’t seem to talk himself out of it. Facing it was probably the solution, but Sage hadn’t managed that yet. He wasn’t sure he could do it alone. “It has to get better. I doubt the others are suddenly scared of the dark.” He hadn’t outright asked Ty or Jasper, but he doubted that was the case with either. If he thought about it, he could sense them moving about at night. And Ty had moved on enough to get married, though he had made a career change.
Marsh shot Sage a mild smile, reaching over again to squeeze his thigh. He had no idea how to reassure Sage, he really had nothing to build on when it came to trauma and mental suffering. It'd honestly be easier if his wrist was broken or something, that he could handle. That he could fix. But Sage's situation was so alien to him and he had no idea who these other people were or how to even begin to try to imagine what he'd been through. "Maybe they're all a fucking mess," he offered. "And yeah, maybe it'll just take time. Like a wound doesn't heal as soon as you wrap it, it's gonna itch and sometimes ooze and crap before it actually gets better."
“Maybe,” Sage said. “I’ve talked to two of them. One’s doing good. Really good. Better than me, at least as far as I can tell, but made some big life changes to cope.” His initial thought was that he should do something similar, but he already was in so many ways. He hadn’t even considered getting his own apartment this time around. Living alone didn’t appeal to him in the least. It was the job that was the problem, like it had been for Ty, but it wasn’t actually the job in his case. It was just getting home from it. “The other guy seems more like me. I should probably check on him. But maybe that’s weird. I dunno. It’s not like I can do anything for him, other than let him know he’s not alone.” And maybe Jasper wasn’t that bad off. It was hard to say. He didn’t really know any of them and that made it harder in so many ways.
"Knowing you're not alone can go a long way," Marsh said and he might not have the experience Sage did with bad things, but he knew that in times of stress or sadness not being alone helped him a lot. Even little things like worrying about a test or being anxious about a game was easier to deal with when he knew he wasn't the only one fretting. "You should reach out," he added as he turned in on his road. "To any of them, really. Anyone you feel okay talking to." The urge to ask who these people were came back because he was giving advice blindly here and it might even be bad advice if these weren't great people. He could almost taste it when Sage noticed where they were, a faint taste of relief, and he knew it helped that they'd go straight into the garage and park in there where there was light. "If they're doing way better than you then maybe they know some tricks you don't."
The most logical person to reach out to was Ty, since Sage had his number and knew he was doing okay. He might be able to give him some advice. But he hated asking for help from a man who’d already given him more help than he probably deserved. Maybe if he’d faced the darkness over there, he wouldn’t be so scared of it over here. Either way, he was going to have to face it because calling people to pick him up wasn’t sustainable, especially on the weekends. “I’ll consider it,” Sage said truthfully. He didn’t want to bother them, but there was a lot of merit in that advice that he couldn’t ignore. His eyes ticked over the houses as they turned on Marsh’s street and he could feel himself start to relax, the tightness seeping out of him, knowing that the safety of Marsh’s house was near. “Has anyone told you about the others?” he asked. “Part of me feels like it’s public record, who all disappeared, but then… I always hated it when people talked about me. But they didn’t know. And I was there.”
"No," Marsh replied. "I wanna ask, but it also feels like none of my business, you know?" He could probably look it up or ask his parents, they kept up with the local gossip a little better than he did. There would be missing people's reports too, news in the local paper. It was certainly weird how it hadn't become bigger news that a whole lot of people went missing at the same time but that wasn't a thought he lingered on. Like so many other Point Pleasant things, it just happened that way. "I'll listen if you want to talk about it," he added with a faint smile. "But you don't have to if you don't want to." He pressed a button to get the garage opened, idly trailing closer to the door until it was high enough to let the car pass. It was funny, he wasn't afraid of the dark normally, but Sage's fear felt a little bit contagious suddenly, like he needed to get them safe as quickly as possible.
If Marsh didn’t already know about Ty, then Sage didn’t think it was his place to tell him. If Ty hadn’t gone to work for Marsh, Sage didn’t think he’d think anything of it, but now the connection was too close. He might find out eventually, or he might not. Oddly, it felt like the kind of event that the town could forget about, all except the ones directly affected. “Sometimes I do. When it feels like it’s too much. But… maybe not tonight,” he said softly, fingers tapping nervously on his knee as he waited for the door to open. Once inside, he turned to watch it close and make sure nothing happened to follow them in. He didn’t think the dark creatures would follow them into the light, but he didn’t want to risk it either. With the door shut and sealed, he released his breath. “Thank you.”
Marsh almost turned around to watch too but he refused to get sucked into that paranoid feeling so he watched Sage instead as he turned the car off and put the handbrake on. The relief was palpable and the gratitude made him smile. "No biggie," he murmured, though it probably was to Sage. "Now you get to watch me sleep, unless you can sleep too. It's gonna be a thrilling night." He tittered and opened the car door to get out, eager to get to bed, even if they might not end up falling asleep right away. Sage was so tense, Marsh doubted he'd relax easily and Marsh was a little too empathetic for his own good these days. "I kinda get the feeling you like boring now more than you used to though," he said when Sage was out of the car too. "Am I right?"
“It’ll take me a while. I’m a little wired,” Sage admitted. “Don’t worry. I can entertain myself.” He’d always been a night owl and bartending had been perfect for him in that regard. Then he’d been in the other place, where he’d had hours upon hours of not being able to sleep. Being in Marsh’s house, with Marsh, he felt safe, and he suspected sleep would come sooner rather than later, even if it still took a bit to wind down. “I definitely like boring a lot more than I used to,” he said as he followed Marsh into the house. “I’m also a lot more picky about what I find exciting. Things I once would’ve jumped at seem a lot more reckless, at least around here.”
"I know what you mean," Marsh said as he led the way inside and headed for the kitchen first to wash his hands and maybe grab something to drink for the two of them. "I haven't even been through any life altering trauma but I really don't feel as immortal as I did ten years ago. I'll still try risky stuff but, you know, I might hesitate a little longer first." He dried his hands and then turned to pull Sage into a hug and a kiss, letting his arms linger on his hips as he pulled back. "You okay? You want to take a shower before we go to bed or anything? Mi casa, su casa."
Sage wondered, just briefly, if he was one of those risky things that Marsh was willing to try, but the thought was snuffed out as soon as Marsh kissed him. It was hard to think of anything when Marsh’s lips were on him and it soothed out his worries, if only for a moment. His fingers reached, brushing over Marsh’s shirt, but drifted away when Marsh pulled back. As needy as he was feeling, he was sure he’d already reached his quota for the day in asking to be picked up from work. “I’m okay. Just… frustrated. I really need to make this work,” he sighed. “I could use a shower… Maybe you could join me? Or would that be the opposite of winding down?”
"Probably," Marsh tittered. "But I'm having a hard time saying no anyway." The responsible thing would be to go to sleep and let Sage take a shower to wind down, but something about this guy made Marsh feel not so responsible at all. Oh well, if he was exhausted in the morning he might learn a lesson from that. Or not. "C'mon, let's get naked," he said and slipped his hand in Sage's to pull him along upstairs. "Maybe we can figure out how to get you to relax," he added cheekily, already thinking of a few ways to do just that.
Sage wasn’t feeling especially horny at the moment, but the opportunity to have Marsh nude and wet in a hot shower was just too good to pass up. If anything would take his mind off earlier events, it was that. He slipped his hand into Marsh’s and let him lead the way to the bedroom, a path that Sage was becoming more and more familiar with as the days passed. Marsh’s living space was nothing like his own—not his previous apartment, not his parent’s house, and not the room he’d barely moved into at Austin’s place—but the more time he spent there, the more comfortable he was and the safer he felt. Sage began to strip as they made it to the bedroom, dropping his clothes across the floor until he was down to his boxers. “I have some ideas,” he said, his hands moving to help Marsh with his clothes. “They all require your hands on me.”
"Good, that's where my hands wanna be," Marsh all but purred at him, raising his arms to let Sage pull his shirt off, then reaching down to tug at Sage's boxers. "You're a terrible influence, you know that, right?" He was smiling as he asked, mostly joking because he was a grown man and if he wanted to be responsible, that was something he needed to do himself. He was willing to go to sleep a little later for Sage, he wasn't yet so old that a sleepless night would put him out of commission for the day and he wanted to take advantage of that while he could, especially when he had a damn good reason for it. He pulled Sage's boxers down and let them drop, then pulled him in close to kiss him again, his hands trailing to his ass, giving his cheeks a nice squeeze. They felt so good in his grip, the skin there slightly cooler than the rest of his body in a way that made him want to warm them up.
Marsh might have been joking, but it touched on a part of Sage that was so far buried that he sometimes forgot it existed. It bubbled up inside of him, a reminder of who he once was, and turned his grin slightly wicked as he nipped at Marsh’s ear. “I’ll take that as a complement,” he murmured, his voice melting into a moan as Marsh squeezed his ass. Marsh would be in bed asleep if it weren’t for him, but Sage considered this worth the extra cup of coffee he might need in the morning. His body warmed under Marsh’s touch, pressing back into him as he drew his lips down for a kiss. “Maybe you need a little chaos in your life,” he teased as his hands fumbled with Marsh’s pants, eventually pushing them off and to the floor. It would have been easier if he was willing to put a bit of space between them, but that was something Sage wasn’t willing to give up.
"I think you might be right," Marsh admitted and while he'd had chaos in his life, it had been a while since then and his current lifestyle was very cut and dry. Except for Sage, his darling little bad influence. He stepped out of his pants, toed his socks off and walked Sage backwards towards the bathroom, only breaking the kiss every so often to make sure they weren't about to crash into anything or fall over. "Unless I already got a little chaos in my life," he murmured pointedly, pressing Sage against the wall next to the shower and slipping his hand between them to tease his cock. "You're already here, aren't you."
Sage smiled against Marsh’s lips, loving the little backwards dance they did on the way to the shower, the fumbling making it all the more fun. The events that brought him there were far from his mind, slipping into the abyss the moment Marsh’s hand wrapped around him. “Yeah, as long as you want me,” he groaned as he arched against the wall, his arms looping around Marsh’s neck as his hips pressed into Marsh’s hand. “You’ll have a hard time getting rid of me. I’m like—like glitter,” he snickered, not sure if Marsh would get the joke, or if he was even making complete sense. It was hard to be clever with Marsh’s hand on his cock.
"You're not like glitter," Marsh said and tittered as he shook his head, giving Sage's cock a little squeeze. "Glitter's annoying, you're not." He punctuated that statement with a kiss. He had a feeling that if he wanted to get rid of Sage, it wouldn't be that hard. He was so timid sometimes, so hard on himself, Marsh was pretty sure that if he told him to leave, he'd walk home even if he was terrified of the dark. Marsh didn't want to get rid of him and in that way he was absolutely nothing like glitter, no matter how pretty and sparkly he could be. "You sure as hell taste better than glitter," Marsh murmured against his plush lips, liking the way Sage's cock was rising to the attention it was getting.
Sage’s breath hitched as Marsh squeezed his cock, the attention enough to make him hard in what felt like a record amount of time, but that was how it always was with Marsh. He had more control over him than any other lover ever had and Sage loved it. It did probably mean that if Marsh wanted him gone, he’d go, but Sage hadn’t thought of it that way. He caught the complement as Marsh kissed him and deepened the kiss, his hips rocking up into Marsh’s grip. Despite the cold tile wall at his back, the shower was momentarily forgotten as he let himself get wrapped up in Marsh’s touch. “What do I taste like?” he murmured back between kisses, a little voice in his brain reminding him that Marsh could taste things no one else could. He often wondered what that would be like, to know what someone was feeling based on taste. The lust was probably overwhelming, but hopefully delicious.
Marsh kind of wished he was more creative and could wax poetic about all the ways Sage tasted, because there were plenty and he was sure there were lots of pretty words for them. He understood what he meant too, it went beyond the taste of skin and tongue now that Sage knew what he could do but that didn't mean he had the vocabulary for it. "Depends on what you're feeling," he replied instead. "Just know you taste good." He tasted like fear a lot of the time, some sort of insecurity, but there was so much more to him that Marsh still didn't recognize and could only guess at the meaning. "Right now you just taste like sex," he added and nipped on his lip before pulling back and stepping into the shower to get it going, still holding on to Sage's arm as if he might run away if he let go too soon.
“Accurate,” Sage snickered because of course he tasted like sex. It was a common emotion around Marsh, often mixed with so many others, but probably present more often than not. It was a good feeling, one Sage had thought was gone after so many months of feeling nothing at all. He knew it was possible after hooking up with Jasper, but not like this—this was a constant, burning desire, not a momentary fling. He thought of Marsh even when they were apart, wondering when he would see him again and hoping this would last. Because this was something to look forward to. Marsh gave Sage hope and hope that he would get laid again was better than no hope at all. A little thrill went through him as Marsh dragged him into the shower, though he went willingly. He ran from a lot, but never this. “You taste like… like mine.”
"Like yours?" Marsh tittered to make sure he'd heard him right over the running water. How did he feel about that? "You getting all possessive on me?" he teased but that didn't bother him, Sage felt like 'his' too, slowly getting more and more tangled in the threads that made up Marsh's life in ways that would make it hard to unravel. Marsh wanted it that way, he didn't really see a future in this, not the kind that everyone else wanted for him anyway, but he liked living in the moment. It seemed like a waste of time worry about what the future would bring when he could only do a limited amount of things to affect it. He smiled as he grabbed his body wash and started washing Sage, slowly smoothing his hands over his chest and arms to begin with.
“No,” Sage said with a little shake of his head that sent his fringe down into his eyes. It was a knee jerk reaction to being called possessive, a negative in every instance he could think of. “I mean, maybe a little. I’d probably be jealous if you picked up another stray, but…” He honestly wasn’t worried about that at the moment, so he couldn’t properly explain why Marsh felt like ‘his’, except that he was pretty sure he was Marsh’s. The more time they spent together, the more Sage was willing to share all the little eccentricities that he normally kept to himself. And some of it was just opportunity—he’d never showered with anyone like he had with Marsh, so he was the only one who’d ever made Sage hum with pleasure as he washed his body. “You’re good at that,” he purred, giving Marsh’s shoulder’s a squeeze before he sought out the soap and began to return the favor.
"I've given a few strays a bath before," Marsh replied cheekily as he gave up the soap and let Sage take over for now. "They were all a lot hairier than you. Less chatty." He kind of liked the idea that Sage was jealous, as long as it wasn't to an extreme degree of course. Feeling possessive could be a negative thing but it could also be positive in a protective way. Sharing was one thing but it should be a very well considered privilege and he wasn't so sure there was anyone he'd be willing to share with when it came to Sage. "You're not bad at this either," he murmured contently but mostly he just liked being touched and there was always something so sensual and nice about running his own hands over his soapy body - having someone else do it for him was heavenly.
“I can keep my mouth shut when I need to,” Sage grinned as he soaped up Marsh’s chest. “And I think you’re the furry one here.” Though he was teasing Marsh, he wasn’t complaining in the least. There was something about the hair on Marsh’s chest that felt very manly to Sage. It made him think of lumberjacks—of which he’d never actually met one, but he was sure Marsh looked excellent in flannel. But then Marsh looked excellent in anything, but best of all bare, where Sage was free to touch him. He soaped down Marsh’s arms, then moved to his body, straying from his hips to give Marsh’s ass a playful squeeze. As he leaned in to kiss Marsh once more, his hands made their way back to the front, lightly rubbing over Marsh’s crotch. “May I?” he asked softly as his fingers circled Marsh’s cock.
Marsh had to laugh at being called out like that because yes, he was a hairy guy. It had annoyed him in high school but he liked it now and didn't bother trying to 'take care' of it anymore because he was a grown-ass man. Sage really didn't seem to mind either and he liked the way it felt to have his fingers move over his body like that. "You may," he murmured contently and fuck he liked the way Sage asked so sweetly, like he needed permission - although if the answer had been no that question was a little too late since he was already touching. It felt good though and the answer was most definitely not no.
Sage liked asking for permission. He liked knowing for certain that what he was doing was wanted. He just wasn’t all that great at following rules, even ones he set for himself. But he wasn’t all that worried about Marsh telling him no. He wouldn’t have followed him into the shower if that was the case. There was too much temptation there, with both of them naked and wet, and Sage was happy to give into it, needing the escape after the stress earlier. It wouldn’t solve his problems, they’d probably be back tomorrow night, but Marsh could chase them away for the time being and that was good enough for now.