Swan Bathing In Innocence

(A/N: This chapter came out faster than others. It popped to me all of a sudden… xD Well, anyway, I love you for the reviews! –hugs everyone- Make sure more come in okay? It was my fuel to continue to write even though it’s late now…)

Swan Bathing In Innocence

Chapter 5: Fragrant Clothes

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, quite, Master,” came the soft reply, humble as always but sounding somewhat distant, as if he was engaged in something else. And that he was as I glanced over to my bed, watching him with a smile on my face as he sorted out my clothes into neat, rectangular pile, separating the pants from the shirts, the pyjamas from the more formal wear. But the stack of formal wear only consisted of a neat-looking jacket that I had worn to my prom last year. Why had I brought it was a mystery to me as well and the small male on my bed had giggled at my confusion and the fact that I was unable to answer his question. I had pouted at him and he decided to punish himself by unpacking my luggage for me.

I smiled…

I watched him from the doorway of my room, which had been left open so that the air would be able to ventilate around the small cottage. Small, it was, but it was enough for me and an extra guest, my mom had said. I remembered laughing and asking her how in the world would I be able to find a person with no place to stay in the middle of the highlands, a few miles away from the local village cum town. I felt myself smile at the memory and I wondered vaguely if my mother was some sort of undeveloped fortune-teller. A small chuckle slipped past my lips before I could stop myself and the small male on my bed looked up, kneeling politely on the bed and his hands frozen in half-fold on a pair of boxers. He wanted to fold my underwear, bless the child…

My underwear?!

“Master?” he murmured softly, sounding curious before his eyes widened. I ad followed my instincts and quickly strode to the bed swiftly, looming over him and he stared at me, wondering what I would do. Softening my eyes at his expression, I sighed and took hold of an exposed part of the half-folded boxer shorts, the rest being covered by his long, slender fingers. I stared at the piles of clothing and sighed in relief as he hadn’t touched any other undergarments. Why was I so jumpy of him holding my underwear?

Maybe it wasn’t that I was jumpy… Maybe I was excited…

I began to suspect a small lustful part of me that had been shut away for a long time had been freed and was now forcing me to jump on Carwyn whenever I got the chance.

My cheeks felt hot as well as everything else under the temples of my head. I stared and blinked, panting as if I had ran a race and barely noticed that the small male had released hold of the underwear, eyeing the article of clothing as if it was cursed. “What’s wrong, Master?” he asked, getting suspicious of the small, dark blue pair of cotton boxers. His voice snapped me back to reality and I shook my head, tightly blinking my eyes to wake myself up.

“Um, uh,” I murmured under my breath, unsure of how to start of the explanation for my odd and awkward behaviour. I drew back from him and straightened up, running a free hand through my hair as my other grasped onto the unmentionables. From the corner of my eye, I watched him tug at my jacket, which he had insisted on wearing until he had sorted all my clothes, and slowly shift himself, now facing me directly. His head was arched up, looking at me but the way he curved his neck had a sort of modest air to it, like a servant respecting his master. I was lost in those blue eyes, drowning in them before I was dragged back up by the sound of him mumbling something. By the look of his eyes, his words were directed to me, and by the infliction at the end of his incoherent murmurings and the way he looked at me expectantly, I assumed that what he had said was a question. “Sorry?” I said, motioning for him to repeat it again and he smiled, exhaling deeply through his nose, a bit of exasperation hinting.

“Why are you frightened of me touching that particular piece of clothing?” he said and I heard the way his voice rose and fell as he said it, smiling. I matched it to the almost nonsensical utters I heard earlier and it was a match. Though, I suspected that the fact that his words were incomprehensible was because I had been daydreaming again.

“Well,” I said, fidgeting around and shifting my weight from one foot to the other. I finally gave up on trying to answer him while standing, wondering if sitting down would make my thinking better and more accurate. Taking a small step closer to the bed, I sat myself down right beside Carwyn and his sky blue eyes never left me, watching me intently, obediently and with the familiar air of his curiosity. He avoided looking directly into my eyes and I smiled at him. “These are,” I finally began, holding up the underwear and he nodded, signalling that he understood. I sighed. “These are the clothes worn underneath all clothes…” I continued, my voice trailing off and he tilted his head to one side, waiting for me to prove my point.

Carwyn shook his head, signalling that he didn’t understand and I sighed softly in relief and exasperation before smiling lightly, raising my free hand and running it through his long, platinum blonde fringe. I had some kind of attraction to him, I noticed, which had started ever since he first looked at me. It had been a few hours and yet, I felt as if I knew him for a lifetime. We didn’t say much to each other, him being somewhat shy of his unusual lilt but I didn’t care. The vocabulary he used may differ from mine, but I found that quite attractive, one of his traits. It could be considered cute, even…

The male gasped at the sudden touch to his head and hair but his features quickly softened and changed from shock to comfort, his lips quirked upwards in a serene smile and his eyes closing, his eyelids fluttering a little over those alluring eyes before they closed altogether, the male letting out a small sigh from his smiling lips. His lips had parted a millimetre for the air to flow through and his face was that of an angel’s. The fact that I was the one who had caused such a beautiful expression made me smile as well. I watched him quietly, my hand continuing to stroke his white blonde hair and my eyes traced from his ear, along his femininely curved jaw line and my eyes came to a brief stop at his slightly pointed chin before glancing at his neck, my eyes wandering to the nape, which was half-covered by the thick jacket. I tried to peep through the small shadows and to see his skin from the small opening at his collarbone, peering through a space in between two buttons or any other little entrance I found.

His eyelids fluttered as my hand on his head had stopped for a god two minutes and the small male had gotten understandably uncomfortable and slightly impatient. He opened his eyes, staring at my face and it took me awhile to notice him; I had been staring at the hem of the jacket, where the thick fleece ended and left his milky white thighs exposed. The idea of sliding my hands in between his legs was so enticing. I had touched him, but I had never felt him before… I felt myself salivating at the idea and blushed in slight shame as I turned away from him, trying to wipe away the lingering feeling of lust at my lower abdomen before I was to look at him again. “Let’s get some clothes for you to wear,” I was the first to break the small silence between us. I smiled and slid my hand from his hair, causing him to pout slightly before his expression turned solemn and concerned. “You must be cold,” I reassured and almost groaned out in exasperation as I saw him open his mouth, his face and eyes clearly hinting that he would object.

“But, I am not done with your clothes, Master,” he admitted in a low and remorseful tone as if he was admitting to murder. He folded his hands, right on top of left, on his lap and stared at the sheets, counting the creases and estimating the length of each crease. He showed utterly guilt through his eyes and reluctance to do anything else before he was done in serving his master in one way. “It wouldn’t be right,” he murmured, adding on those words, wondering if they would have an effect on me. His head tilted upwards ever so slightly and he peered at me through the long curtain of white gold hair.

“It would be right,” I insisted and placed a hand on his knee to prove my point, shivering at the blast of cold air that had just travelled from the tips of my hand, up my arm and down my spine, striking my braid with shock as my hand began to slide up and down a little, barely going past a centimetre from my original position. I hoped for the friction to warm him as I licked at my lower lip, sucking it a little thoughtfully. “Please, Carwyn,” I said, not pleading, but asking in a polite manner that made him blush. “Put on some clothes…” Softening the look in my eyes, I curved my lips into an innocent and knowing smile, staring into his face and eyes, showing him how much I cared for him and how much it would hurt me if he was hurt in anyway. In this case, the possibility was frostbite… But most of my thoughts I had channelled into him through eye contact was probably exaggerated and he seemed to notice, smiling amusedly at me right after reading my mind.

The small boy pursed his lips together, pondering on the gentle order and slowly, his head began to nod before it became more distinct and was quite obvious now. He showed little enthusiasm and I flipped through the small stacks of clothing, neatly leaving them how they were before as I took out a pair of thick, fleece pants I had thought of using as pyjamas and held it out to him. He stared, holding it by the elastic and unfolded his legs from his kneel and slid out of the bed, awkwardly tugging on the pair of trousers. It was obvious that he wasn’t used to putting on clothes even though he was quite familiar of how to fold them and how to wear them.

Finally, he was standing there, in front of me, trying his best to hold the wide waistband up, his hips being too small for the large pants. I smiled and stood up from the bed as well, sliding my hand in front of his crotch and finding the two strings, knotted at the end and I pulled at the both of them, tightening the elastic, constricting the waist of the pants so that they rubbed against his stomach before it fell to his navel. I nodded, thinking it would be decent enough for him before tying a small, secure knot at it. It was better now, his legs weren’t bare for the cold winds to bite at him, but the sleeves of the trousers were a little too long, stretching for a few inches past his feet.

“It’s a little too big, but I’ll buy new clothes for you when I get the chance,” I said reassuringly in case he didn’t like it. I looked at him up and down, observing how each part tucked and folded around his small body, running my hand through his hair again. “I’ll have to g to town anyway and I’ll buy something around your size so you wouldn’t have to stick to clothes too big for you…”

“You,” Carwyn murmured the small statement as he received a long-sleeved grey turtleneck shirt and began to pull off the jacket, tugging on the turtleneck, trying to force his head through the constricted, cylindrical part of the shirt. He groaned and mumbled and I helped him, chuckling and realigning his head to the hold, grabbing hold of the sides of the shirt and lightly pulling it down. His head popped through easily and his hair was a slight mess from the needless struggling earlier. “It smells like you,” he noted with an innocent smile.

“Sorry, I’ll buy new clothes right away if you don’t like it,” I said, grinning in a small ashamed way as I made a move to take it off. He shook his head rapidly, which stopped my hands, which hovered above the delicate curves of his waist, hidden by the thick clothes.

“No,” he murmured softly, reluctant to part with shirt as he wrapped his arms around his body in a cute self-embrace. He mumbled something incoherent and disjointed and I raised my eyebrow a quarter of a centimetre, unsure of what he had just said. By the looks of his face, it was something he had mixed feelings about and I was curious.

“Sorry?” I motioned for him to repeat and he took in a deep breath to get ready.

“I like your smell,” he mumbled, more clearly now and his voice trailed off as he finished the sentence. His cheeks turned light pink and I smiled at him affectionately, stroking his hair now. “You smell sweet, like fruits…” he added, his voice trailing off to soft mumbles and I couldn’t catch the rest. But I couldn’t care less, feeling light-hearted all of a sudden as he continued to ramble softly.

(A/N: Read and review, please)