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[withintenfeet]

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[withintenfeet]

Possessive already? There's no sting of recrimination there, at least; the devil remains slyly amused.

Zerxus, meanwhile, eats his food in blissful ignorance before he replies. "I addressed that in my letter. We've got a lot of contingency plans."

Sometimes people are delayed. Sometimes people never come back.

[knightbynight]

You cannot be surprised.

He's like this; Yes, he is. He also wants to bite Zerxus -- for a very, very mild start. That is potentially problematic -- for Bruce. He's interested, and possessive, and attracted, and annoyed.

He also has the faintest thread of wanting to protect the man from his own stupidity that directly conflicts with the rest.

"All because Gotham needs a healer." He 'tsks' faintly, but it's not truly mean. "Are you finished eating?"

[withintenfeet]

Plainly, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, "Yes."

Oh, I'm not. He does sound extremely satisfied, which is...one of the better possibilities, if perhaps unsettling.

After one last spoonful he nods, before rising with his plate. It's instinct; everyone cleans up after themselves if they can.

[knightbynight]

"..." Bruce leans back in his chair, with his coffee and his head tilted. "I'm almost tempted to let you."

Why are you like this.

It's food that was conjured in a kitchen owned not just by a devil but The son of The Devil. Even adopted...

[withintenfeet]

Zerxus glances between Bruce and his plate a couple times before he just...shrugs, a little bit sheepishly.

"Honestly, it would make me feel better."

[knightbynight]

"You are an incredibly odd man."

But he waves his hand which has the effect of the water turning on in the sink, and... most of the rest of the meal (and dishes) just vanishing.

Most of. Zerxus' plate, silverware, and crystal goblet remain.

Those are his problem now.

[withintenfeet]

Zerxus inclines his head with an almost playful smile. "And you're a very considerate devil."

Usually he'd sweep his cape as he turned to the sink, but he doesn't have it so he just....kind of looks like he's swaying his hips. (And then grimacing a little because, well, he's not getting any younger and riding on a griffon for hours doesn't make your thighs feel great.)

[knightbynight]

"I wouldn't advise giving me too much credit. I may take it as a challenge - or admit that I fully intend to sit here, watch you clean up after yourself and stare at you very nice ass."

What? It's very honest, but it's also designed with intent to get a reaction as well as providing some potentially useful information.

He is letting the man keep his own dishes and take care of them, though.

[withintenfeet]

It's certainly effective; Zerxus almost stumbles over his own feet, and he is very resolutely not looking back at Bruce before he starts washing that plate.

It's not like he hasn't been flirted with at all in the last decade and change, but it's usually just - the standard bard affection or distraction, easily deflected. Once anyone really knew him, especially if he was about to live beside them, it always tapered off.

[knightbynight]

Bruce stays where he is, leaned back, drinking his coffee and... well, staring at Zerxus' ass.

Because he said he was going to, and because it's a very nice one.

Once the dishes (dish) are done, though he stands up (and disappears his cup to ... somewhere).

"Ready to finish your abbreviated tour?" In a bedroom.

[withintenfeet]

The thing about being seduced by a devil is he very well might be feeling that gaze burning right into him.

Or it could be in his head. Either way it's very distracting.

He almost drops the dish twice, though that's in part because he's - extremely tired, actually, now that he's eaten the biggest meal he's had in ages and the adrenaline has fully crashed. It's both whole and spotless when he's done, though.

"Ready."

[knightbynight]

Does it even count as seduction, when it is that overt?

Bruce can all but see the exhaustion, and he isn't entirely surprised though the concept of being that specific sort of physically and emotionally tired seems foreign. Like it is so human that it feels entirely alien.

...actually tired, in that specific way, might be the most human thing Bruce can imagine.

He's a bit lost in his own head, though not allowing himself much in the way of concrete thoughts, while he leads Zerxus out of the kitchen and up the stairs, taking the most direct route. The place is somehow both gloomy and ostentatious, even the hallways and stairwells.

He also does the 'leading' walking beside Zerxus with a hand between his shoulders. "I'll check your closet before I go, then leave you to do whatever cleaning up you feel the need to do and sleep." Look. He's nice. (Is it an act, or is it sincere and the act is... acting like it's an act? Even he can't find those lines anymore. )

[withintenfeet]

For just a second he tenses beneath that touch, but then his shoulders ease and he lets himself be steered. More than that, he lets gaze linger on their surroundings, trusting Bruce not to let him stumble over or into anything. By the time they reach the bedroom he's...reasonably confident he could find the kitchen again, at least, and also - strangely desolate.

Everything is beautiful, in an ominous sort of way, but it's so lifeless. The biggest house they've got in their sanctuary is maybe a quarter of this, at the very best; all of them have mismatched furniture, peeling paint and scarred walls.

Any one of them is more comfortable than this manor, and his chest aches a little - not for the year he's about to spend here, so much, but the years Bruce already has.

He only nods, at first, before his eyes widen in realisation. "Closet - oh. I'll need something to sleep in."

In his own home he'd be fine sleeping in boxers; in Gotham not so much.

[knightbynight]

Bruce is more than willing to wait out the tension. He would be regardless, but the fact that it's just tension and it doesn't last particularly long is information that is useful, if only on a personal level.

He does, in fact, keep Zerxus from getting too close to anything potentially dangerous, and doesn't rush their walk. It's interesting to watch Zerxus seeing the place. It's long since been nothing more than background to him, nearly invisible and irrelevant. The change in perspective mostly means he notices more. He has very little basis for comparison to anything else, but even simply noticing more leads to speculation and curiosity about what the Manor looked like when it was a family home - to humans - rather than his home.

He blinks exactly once at the remark. "Why has that only now occurred to you, and what standard of coverage do you want?" Don't ask him, he'll leave you wearing a silk robe, bow tie and thong, and think he's funny.

[withintenfeet]

"I - on the road I usually just sleep in this." It's not comfortable, but it's safer. Even stopping in a friendly village - any place can turn on you, or be attacked at the worst moment. There are exceptions - like Sarenrae's other sanctuaries, or Metropolis, or Keystone - but they're rare enough that the usual instincts still carried instead.

Hells, he's slept in the full plate more than once.

"...Sleeves and pants would be appreciated."

[knightbynight]

"Easily done," he agrees, absently. "It's likely that the majority of your clothing will be coming directly from my wardrobe, with additional red. Though anything warm I'll have to arrange through other means." He's not exactly someone who gets cold often, for many reasons, much less one who dresses heavily.

Please read that as 'getting black silk pajamas'. Meanwhile he shoves open the door into the third floor hall. It's darker up here, but in a less ominous way, but more 'not as often used' one. Still everything the Manor is, but with a deeper sort of stillness even than the rest of the place.

[withintenfeet]

His steps slow, both out of caution - one of them can see in the dark and it sure isn't him - and...a sense of wistfulness. He can feel the dust as his hand slides over the archway, taste the mustiness in the air. As his eyes adjust he finds himself peering closer at these forgotten corners, as if he could glimpse the Gotham that once was, the Gotham that Bruce was born in.

It's not long before his steps stop completely, his gaze fixated on - a random wall, apparently.

[knightbynight]

He slows down very little in deference to the dark, though it does eventually at least occur to him that it is an issue and slows some.

He certainly stops when Zerxus does, also peering at that wall.

"Is there an issue?"

Beyond it needing to be painted, due to a series of random lines.

[withintenfeet]

His fingers are trailing down to trace those very lines, tracing the lowest and wobbliest first. He started before he could even hold his tool properly - that tracks, honestly, and his laughter is thick.

Zerxus suspects, when he looks at Bruce, that he won't see any recognition in his eyes. It still feels like a kick in the chest.

The walls that tracked Elias's growth are gone, now; Evandrin's house in Avalir, the cottage in Cathmoira, both of them are ashes in the air. This is worse than that.

"...Not an issue, no."

[knightbynight]

He continues to watch Zerxus, curiosity and confusion and even some compassion while he does. He doesn't understand why some random, not even level, lines would rouse that much emotion. Much less that type of emotion, though he can't even clearly identify what the emotion is.

"It's certainly something though, isn't it?"

He even goes to swipe some of the dust off the wall, and in doing so, however carelessly, uncovers one that's out of place and even shakier than the others (Except the first) and far above the rest.

[withintenfeet]

"Yes. But I don't know if - "

The words trail off as his eyes widen, and he cocks his head slightly as his brow furrows. Then he turns, casting around for something -

Abruptly, there's another huff of laughter as he kneels down. More to himself than Bruce he murmurs, "Oh, you were a terror."

[knightbynight]

He doesn't understand any of this, and that feels terrible.

"You don't know if what? Was a terror?" Is it possible to be curious and then mildly offended in rapid turn? Yes. "What are you seeing here?" Then demanding right on the end of it.

[withintenfeet]

He can't help it; in the midst of this, knelt between a record and a rocking chair, those words sound like a child's. When he looks up his expression is, somehow, both deeply pained and warmly amused.

"You're lucky I'm not asking you for the magic word." Mostly because Asmodeus probably told him it was 'now'. "I'm seeing your childhood, Bruce."

[knightbynight]

The magic word is 'now'. The magic words are 'or I will kill you'. Or light them on fire, or stare at them in a particularly menacing way and kill them. There are options. Lots and lots of options for the specifics of kill and suffer.

He looks around the room, seeing the space and the things still in it with interest that is ... not as emotionally remote as he might like. Also thinking about the Waynes, but only in the most abstract of ways. Remembering they exist.

"It is Wayne property." There shouldn't be surprise that there's anything left of his childhood here. But it is. It very, very much is.

[withintenfeet]

Soft but intent, "It was a home."

This is dangerous territory. He's pushing lines here, prodding wounds, and at the end of the day Bruce is still a devil.

He doesn't actually know if baring his own soul as he does it will help any, but -

"Elias can't remember his father's voice."