Mouse smiled, his eyes squinting almost shut. Brittany, you motherfucker, I’m going to find you and make you pay for this bullshit. Now I look like a huge pervert, or super fucking horny at best. What in the good Goddess’ name made you do this to me?
“Er, I can go back…” Felix said, adjusting the towel around his waist.
“No, no, never mind. We’ve already seen each other half-naked, right? In the Arena. No worries,” Mouse assured him. Fine, Brittany, fine. You played this hand? I’m going to take it. If you end up with the shittiest room in the palace when we get back, don’t you dare complain.
Besides, if nothing else, it’ll assure him without a doubt that I’m female. After this, I can do whatever I want, and he won’t suspect anything.
Felix hesitated another second, then stepped into the hot springs. “Of… of course. Sorry. I thought there would be separate hot springs for men and women, not…”
“At least it was only me. If you’d walked in on all the princesses, you might not have survived the encounter,” Mouse chuckled. He pulled back from the edge and glanced over at a wooden wall near the lodge, where showerheads and spigots awaited them. “We ought to rinse off before we get in. Should I wash your back?”
“Oh, n-no need,” Felix said, blushing.
What’re you blushing for? “Your Highness, we came here to relax, did we not? Let me ease your burden.” Mouse gripped him firmly by the shoulders and maneuvered him toward the showerheads.
“There’s—there’s really no need, not… that I wouldn’t like… if you…” Felix blushed deeper.
Mouse paused. He craned his neck and looked down at Felix. “When I say ‘wash your back,’ I mean it literally, not whatever madness Brittany put in your head.”
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“She—I—” Felix’s blush spread all the way from his ears to his upper back. He turned to the side, desperately trying to hide his face.
So it was Brittany. Mouse sighed. “It’s best if you don’t listen to her. She’ll only pollute your mind.”
“O…oh,” Felix mumbled. He rubbed his face and glanced back at Mouse, embarrassed. “It’s not like—I wasn’t expecting anything.”
“Of course, of course not.” Mouse sat him down under the showers and pressed the enchanted circle beneath the showerhead. Hot water rushed down from above.
Felix retrieved a wooden bench from a pile nearby and sat under the spray. “When are the others getting here, do you think?”
Mouse sighed. “Who knows?” Brittany being the way she is, it’ll probably be uncomfortably long. Long enough to do whatever she told Felix ‘wash your back’ meant, anyways.
He grabbed a sponge and scrubbed Felix’s back, half an eye on the sky. The tall walls around the hot spring meant nothing with avians flying overhead. Eran seemed nice enough, but still, I don’t want people peeking in on me.
“Mouse, I’ve been wondering. Am I doing a good job?” Felix asked, suddenly serious. He bowed his head as if the pouring water weighed a thousand pounds.
“A good job?” Mouse asked, distracted by scrubbing.
“Mhm. A good job of being Mage-Emperor.”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Felix asked, hurt.
Mouse paused and blinked. “Huh? No. I mean… I’ve only been up and about for a few days. I couldn’t possibly know.”
Felix’s head drooped lower.
“But uh, you helped me while I was out. And you saw through the issue with Brittany and Achlys. I think you’re doing fine.”
“You’re the one who resolved Brittany’s issue. I just showed up,” Felix pouted.
Mouse dropped the sponge and put his hands in Felix’s mop of hair. “But you were busy, doing important things, right?”
“Some… stupid administrative stuff,” Felix muttered.
“And you stood up for me when I first woke up. That’s good enough for me.”
Felix sighed. “I know, I Just… I want to be better.”
“That’s—aha—the first… oh goddess,” Mouse mumbled, fighting the urge to laugh. His whole body crawled with a ticklish feeling that he couldn’t ignore.
“Mouse?”
Shit. This had better not be what I think it is. “N—nothing, Your Highness, I—ehe!”
Felix turned. He raised his hand to push his bangs out of his face.