The Tidy Boys (part 2 of 2)

Writers: Jane, AJ Kraier
Date Posted: 6th March 2007

Characters: Jh'slaen, D'val
Description: D'val plays "healer" with Jh'slaen after Threadfall, and they discuss what they are attracted to in a man.
Location: River Bluff Weyr
Date: month 2, day 18 of Turn 4

As he reached for one of the items he'd laid out, D'val furrowed his brow and said, "Tidy? Not overly so... Why do you ask?"

"You folded my shirt."

The furrows deepened. "Yeah... So?"

"Fin would have just thrown it on the floor."

D'val shrugged. "I'm not Fin," he said, as he dribbled some unscented oil into the palm of his hand. "I don't see the point of tossing things on the floor when it's just as easy to fold it and put it in its proper place."

Jh'slaen beamed. "You _are_ tidy, then."

"A little bit, I suppose. Why? Is that a bad thing?" D'val asked, as he started to rub the oil onto Jh'slaen's back.

"That's hot!" Jh'slaen flexed his muscles slightly under the other man's hands, intrigued by the feeling of heat. "It's not important, really. Just somethin F'naren and I were talking about. Attraction of opposites. I tend toward men who are - oowww - not ... very ...
tidy."

"Ah-huh..." D'val attention was focused upon what he was doing, and so it took a long moment for Jh'slaen's words to sink in. "Huh? Attracted to... I thought that you and F'naren were just friends?"

"Not _him!_" Jh'slaen made a face D'val couldn't see. "_Real_ men.
Don't ever tell him I said that! I mean, men who are likely to reciprocate my interest. But not tidy men, like you."

"Oh! I'll try not be devastated that I'm too neat for you," D'val teased. "As for myself, I'm not sure what my type is." He furrowed his brow in thought. "Come to think of it, I've not... Uh, nevermind."

"Not what?" Jh'slaen eased his head around to try to catch sight of D'val's expression without straining his shoulder any more.

"Nothing, it's just... queer is all," said D'val, growing a bit embarrassed. "If I tell you, you've got to promise never to tell anyone -- not even F'naren."

"All right," the younger greenrider said slowly. "But I don't like keeping secrets from him, now."

"But there are certain things that are best kept to one's self -- as you might recall," D'val said. He grabbed a small hand towel from among his supplies, then moved to sit next to Jh'slaen on the edge of the bed. He wiped his hand on the towel as he spoke. "It's been awhile since I... did it outside of a flight. The guys I tend to fall for are the kind of guys who are not interested in greenriders -- or at least male greenriders.

"It's not too bad. I mean, they're safe in a way because there's no messy complications." D'val sighed. "Not that I wouldn't mind a messy complication now and then between flights -- but anyway... There is this one rider who is... sharding gorgeous! I cannot stop thinking about him, Jh'slaen." He sighed again. "Why do the good ones have to be so far out of reach?"

"Don't fall for the bronzeriders, D'val. Haven't you been told that million times? You know they mean the brownriders who won't, too."
He moved around so that he could put an arm - his good arm - around the other man's shoulders. "Find a real man. Somebody who's interested."

The door opened into the little silence after his words and he glanced up to see F'naren disappearing back out of the room.

"FIN!"

A pause, then: "What?"

"It's not what you think," he called, tightening his grip on D'val's shoulders. "Come in."

"Yeah, F'naren, come join us," said D'val, patting a space on the bed beside him.

The brownrider advanced cautiously, watching Jh'slaen remove his arm from the other man's shoulders. "It looks like what I think," he muttered.

"Well it's not. D'val's not my type."

"He's a greenrider."

"Dragons have nothing to do with a guy's type -- at least not when it comes to the important things," said D'val. "I'm not Jh'slaen's type because I'm too tidy."

F'naren's doubtful expression disappeared into a grin. "Yeah, that'd kill it." He glanced at the armchairs which he knew too well to want to sit in, and then climbed on the bed and settled himself against the headboard, rearranging the pillows.

"So -"

"D'val was working on my shoulder," Jh'slaen said, speaking at the same time and answering the question the brownrider was about to ask.
"Nothing 'reportable'. Just wrenched some muscles nearly missing a sack."

"And while the ointment was doing its thing, we were talking about one of our favorite topics: men," added D'val. "And lo and behold, in walks one."

"Another one. There were already two here," F'naren pointed out.
"Were you a healer before you Impressed?"

"Yes. I apprenticed at Far Island Weyr -- that's where I was born --
and at Healer Hall. When I walked the tables, I transferred here to be close to my father and his family, and to continue my training."

"Huh. That's still coming in useful. Is he going to live?"

"Probably. I've yet to lose someone to a pulled muscle."

Jh'slaen reached for his shirt. "Whatever D'val put on, it's still cooking me. Either of you want to go to the dining cavern and get something to drink?"

"Hey, give me that," said D'val, grabbing for the shirt. "Just because you are cooking doesn't mean that you are ready to go stretching them just yet. Do you have anything that opens down the whole front?"

F'naren rolled off the bed. "I'll get it." He crossed to the press and opened the doors, waving a hand to make sure D'val noticed.
"Tidiness is more than a hobby with this man. Buttoned shirts ...
Here. In colour order from favourite to least -"

"Will you _shut_up?_" Jh'slaen grumbled. "Just give me the blue one."

D'val nodded approvingly. "Interesting way of doing it. But tell me, do you also keep a list of what you wore when so that you don't wear the same thing too often?"

Jh'slaen looked puzzled. "When they come back from the laundry I put them at the bottom of the pile and keep working through from the top."

"I just add it to the top, and go through the pile for the color that I want -- but there's probably a few I haven't worn in ages because of that," said D'val.

"That's not exactly ... well, orderly." Jh'slaen got to his feet and accepted the shirt. "Perhaps D'val's more like you, Fin."

"Not unless he stores his clothes on the floor, he's not."

"No. Definitely not. Clothing on the floor bothers me to no end," D'val said.

Jh'slaen managed to get into his shirt without wincing visibly and nodded at F'naren. "See, there are people in the middle ground."

"There are people in the dining cavern, too, waiting to share wine or ale with us. Come along. I bet that something alcoholic on the inside will help just as much as D'val's ... whatever ... on the outside."

"I'm not sure I'd agree with that," said D'val, "but then again, some wine, men, and song couldn't hurt."

Last updated on the March 14th 2007

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The Tidy Boys (part 2 of 2)