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It's almost like I'm known for that or something.

[ All that pout gets is a wide smirk in response since of course there's one to follow it up along with finishing up cleaning despite getting a little sidetracked by teasing Sylvain (frequently). The towel also gets tossed aside after a haphazard look to make sure it lands on wherever their clothes did to worry about later, or possibly after Sylvain falls asleep if he's still awake, but that's to be determined.

What it really means is a perfectly good excuse, even if he doesn't need one, to finally sprawl out next to the other man for good, and not without wrapping an arm around strong shoulders to pull him closer in the process. ]

I already have all your weaknesses memorized, anyway. Makes it a lot easier on me whenever you decide to get a little too smug or pouty.

Me? I’d never do that.

[ Even if he sounds pretty smug as he makes that claim anyway.

He lets himself be tugged, rolling into Claude’s hold, their legs tangled together as he gives a soft, contented sigh. It’s easy to sink into the warm, familiar comfort offered. The contact he’d so rarely let himself indulge in before Claude came along.

Most of his past dalliances would have taken that as too much encouragement. Not to mention, most of them he’d had no interest in staying with any longer than necessary. Just one more tradition the man had turned on its head. ]

How do you know you’ve actually seen all my weaknesses? I could be hiding a whole bucketfull and only dangling a choice few to keep you distracted from the rest.

How do you know I haven't already accounted for that?

[ Fired back just as quickly and with no small amount of amusement behind it, both due to something he'd subconsciously felt Sylvain would answer with and for the possibility of having actually done just what he'd volleyed back as a matching question. Time will have to tell on that one considering he's not about to reveal anything before the moment is right - whatever that ends up meaning.

It's still so nice, he thinks idly, to be able to do just this as Sylvain settles in and that sigh brings a smile to his face while he lets his fingertips sketch shapes without meaning against the other's skin. It's enough for Claude to close his eyes even if he's not ready to rest just yet, but nothing says that doesn't mean he can't still enjoy it to the fullest until then. ]

Besides, I think you just offered yourself up as a puzzle all over again. Rather dangerous to do to someone who likes figuring things out, isn't it?

You might be a master tactician, sir, but not even you can account for everything.

[ It’s said teasingly, even if that smug tone is lingering. His lips quirk in amusement before his expression softens at the familiar feel of Claude’s fingertips tracing nonsensical shapes and patterns against his skin. It’s an absent habit the other man has, as if even when they’re relaxed and at rest he can’t quite seem to stop being restless. Sylvain finds it surprisingly endearing. ]

Besides. I like living dangerously. Keeping you guessing is just an added bonus.

Ugh. I take back what I said about biting you because for that one I ought to kick you out of bed.

[ That's immediately following the mention of master tactician, that unfortunate nickname being something which always gets Claude to crinkle up his face in disgust. Time and distance from Fodlan are no exception to finding it as distasteful as ever. Even if Sylvain can't see his reaction, it won't be lost in how that's said, at any rate. ]

And what was it you'd told me earlier, that you're not a puzzle? Something about that doesn't seem to match up here.

[ All affectionately - even if he still doesn't buy whatever sidestep Sylvain had given him earlier - and with turning his head enough to press a kiss to the other's forehead. ]

[ Sylvain’s response to that is just to wrap his arms and legs around the other man and cling like an octopus, even as he snickers. ]

Nope. Can’t.

[ Claude's response to that is, unsurprisingly, an immediate groan and a barely even half-hearted struggle to 'get away' that's more for show than anything. Especially considering he could probably break away from Sylvain's grasp if he had any inclination to, but - file this under it being nice to be held even if it's supposedly torment. ]

What have I done to deserve a fate like this?

[ Nothing's going to stop him from being dramatic about it purely for the sake of Sylvain's laughter, as if he's really being punished for something here and not doing an incredibly poor job of hiding the grin in his voice. ]

[ Sylvain’s laughter is what he gets. Still wrapped around the other man, he tips his head back enough to peer up at Claude with one chocolate eye full of mischievous amusement. ]

Would you like the list? I can alphabetize it for you.

You'd better believe I do. And I don't just want it alphabetized, I want citations and sources to go along with it.

[ As if this is something belonging in the library rather than a (probably) playful tactic, and a thought he follows up with tugging on Sylvain's hair lightly with a couple fingers. ]

I'll expect it tomorrow, by the way. Only because it sounds like you have it ready to go as it is.

[ Sylvain stills for a moment before picking up his head to give Claude an actual Look now. ]

Did you just try to assign me homework? Next you’ll be telling me to call you ‘Professor’.

[ Which is what spawns the glint of mischief in chocolate eyes as one corner of his lips quirks upwards, a hint of a dimple peeking out. ]

Didn’t realize that was one of your kinks. Sir.

[ When Sylvain lifts his head Claude doesn't think anything of it, not even with the Look, but then its his own turn to pause in what he's doing and stare for a second. Only a second, though, because once what the other man says and that small smile registers, he immediately laughs even if it comes paired with crinkling up his face in playful supposed distaste or something close to it. ]

If I remember correctly, Gautier, you're the one who admitted to having Teach fantasies. Are you sure that's not you getting your hopes up about being put in detention?

[ He's grinning as he moves his hand away from drawing shapes to instead run the pad of his thumb over that barely there dimple. ]

If you really want to get into it, we could probably find a chalkboard somewhere so you could write the same sentence over and over as punishment. [ A slight pause, then - ] Maybe actual punishment now that you're making me consider this.

Please. As if the Professor ever put you in detention.

[ He blows a raspberry, not believing that for a second. But he can’t dim his grin any, leaning into those warm fingers against his cheek. ]

And if that’s as creative a punishment you can come up with on a night like this, I may have to despair over you being a completely lost cause.

That's you presuming I was a good student.

[ As for whether he was - that depends on one's definition of it, Claude supposes, but thinking back to his teenage self makes it easy enough now to (sort of) admit he wasn't. Not always, anyway, though Teach was so unfairly never ruffled it'd almost felt like a challenge in some ways. Until everything happened, anyway, and then he'd had five years to think about it.

Claude puts on a mock frown, however, as he now taps that thumb against Sylvain's cheek. ]

And I rather think it's your fault for me being uncreative, what with you wearing me out. That just means I'll have to keep my better ideas all to myself and you'll have to wonder what they are.

If I presume that, it’s got less to do with you putting the effort into the classes themselves and more to do with you always needing to know everything.

[ He says it teasingly, letting his own hand skim up and down Claude’s spine as he lets his head fall back to rest on the man’s shoulder once more. ]

Besides. Are you really going to try and convince me that you didn’t have the Professor wrapped around your pinky by the end of your first week?

I think it was probably the needing to know everything which made me a particularly annoying student.

[ In more ways than one; while Lysithea might've argued with Teach openly in lectures, it was always apparent because she wanted to make sure she understood. On the other hand: his own interventions loudly or otherwise had been more of an undermining quality given he hadn't trusted Teach and had trusted him even less after finding the Sword of the Creator. All things which evolved in time both in that school year and in the many years afterwards, and maybe none of it matters anymore.

Not as much as shifting a little more to face Sylvain both to get more comfortable and to make it easier for that hand tracing over him to continue and have a slightly wider path to do it as he flashes the other a smirk. ]

Why, are you speaking from experience of being here? If so then maybe I don't have to do any convincing at all.

[ That hand slides down to rest at the small of his back, fingers splayed there as his thumb rubs back and forth. He’s comfortable right where he is, head once more pillowed against Claude’s shoulder, wrapped up around him, and held in turn. They’d spent a lot of nights like this, of late. Which was still a little unbelievable to Sylvain. Considering he’d never spent the night with most of his previous lovers. This had been quite the switch.

It’s a little scary, how much he likes it. How comforting it is to curl up next to someone. To trust someone like that.

Right now, though, he just hums, slightly distracted as his mind mulls that over. ]

I probably wouldn’t believe you anyway.

[ This is too comfortable. Claude's had that thought before and he's having it again now, what with Sylvain pressing himself into all those empty spaces like they were meant to fit him and in a way he thinks he shouldn't find so soothing. That's putting too much into something that - is whatever this is, and he whisks the thought away again even as the smile remains on his face unnoticed.

Whatever else is yet to come out of that train of thought is yet to be discovered. For now, Claude mishears distraction for tiredness and leans to press a kiss to Sylvain's temple, letting it linger as he closes his eyes to murmur against skin. ]

Go to sleep. You can figure out if you believe me in the morning.

[ His lips quirk into a smile at the brush of lips and the gentle command, but he just snuggles a little closer, content enough to do just that. ]

Okay, but only if you sleep, too.

I'll think about it.

[ That counts, right? It'll have to since there's still some time to go before he can convince his mind to wind down for the night, even when Sylvain's warmth pressed into his side more comforting than save but a handful of other things he can think of listing right then.

Some of them, maybe, tie to what had started this whole conversation in the first place when he'd walked into his room to find Sylvain already there. As if he belonged, like he was supposed to be, and that thought makes something tighten in his chest just as much as the uncertainty of why it is they're the only two at the loft so often lately does in a different way.

Tonight will bring him no answers, Claude knows, so instead he shifts again to rest his cheek against Sylvain's face and going right back to tracing those shapes and patterns along ever more familiar skin to convince the other man to drift off as it's done on other nights. ]

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