It felt wonderful, to just lie there and hold a warm body, Jim reflected, slowly drifting back to wakefulness. To feel the person in your arms return the embrace, content to snuggle. He missed snuggling. Carol had never been one for it, always frumpy and grumpy, or already gone when he awoke.

Morning stubble scratched teasingly at his arm, and his eyes flew open in shock. Blair Sandburg blinked rather surprised back at him, the gradually sat up.  "Good morning," he said casually, as if they’d both simply sat down at the same park bench.

"G-Good morning." Jim sat up himself, a little at loss. Was he mistaken, or had he just woken up in bed with a man??

Said man was now stretching a little and fruffing back the covers with a little sigh of contentment.

And he smelled

Jim reached out and lightly traced little circles on the covers. "Blaaaaiiiiirrr…." He sang in a child-like voice

"Yyyeeeessss?" Blair sang back.

Jim took an exaggerated sniff of the air, smelling the salt from the last nights tears and  the unwashed, sweaty smell. " I think the little cochon needs a bath," he teased, poking one broad shoulder.

"Cochon?" Blair fairly shrieked, rolling over and clamping his knees firmly astride Jim's pelvis as he pretend to smack the man helpless with laughter beneath him. "COCHON???"

"Hmmm..." Jim made another show of sniffing the air and Blair pelted him with a pillow. When he pulled the cushion away, Jim was using the index finger of his right hand to push his own nostrils up, honking and grunting like a truffle hunter.

It was the final straw. Blair sat there speechless for a long moment, then finally threw his head back and screamed with laughter. Howling helplessly, the Maquisard toppled off the larger man and to one side, clutching the pillow in his hands so tightly Jim thought he could hear the material tearing.

Jim decided he liked the sound of Blair's uninhibited laughter. He liked it so much, he decided to hear more. Creeping one hand along the mattress, he mercilessly attacked the smaller man's stomach. There was more hair down here, he discovered, soft and silky, a delight to his fingers as he tickled over ribs that stood out a bit too sharply.

Blair shrieked and tried futilely to squirm away, panting and flapping his hands in a flurry of slaps at the invading digits as peal after peal of laughter blessed the air. Finally he managed to escape. "D'ac, D'ac!" he gasped. "Ok! I'll take the damn bath! On one condition."

Jim waggled his fingers threateningly. "No conditions, little piggy," he warned.

"One." Blair batted away the dancing fingers. "You bathe with me." At Jim’s look of sheer disbelief, he chuckled.  "Jim, there is one bath here. Enough hot water for one. These houses are old, in the mountains. The water doesn’t heat as fast.  And you smell." He barely ducked the thrown pillow in time.

Blair moaned as the hot water caressed him. "Heat..." he turned and made kissy motions to the faucet as Jim stepped into the water. "Oooh, I love you. IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou...."

Ellison pouted to cover his embarrassment as he settled himself up the other end of the tub. "Does that mean I'm replaced?"

Blair tickled him with his feet as he closed his eyes, soaking up the heat. "Unless you start spouting warm water, yes," he replied solemnly.

"Ah," It seemed to be the end of the conversation as Jim leaned back in the tub, covertly trying to cover himself with a scrap of washcloth.

Blair sighed."Jim, Jim, Jim, this is the part where you are supposed to try and lure me into your American ways by offering me days of endless warmth on your sunny shores."

The joke broke the awkward silence and Jim laughed softly. "Where would you like to go, mon 'tite cochon? Florida? Mexico?"

"I went to Mexico once.." Blair splashed his toes in the water, watching the little ripples spread out to rebound from the sides of the tub.

Jim caught the wayward foot and settled it in his lap. "When?" he asked, sensitive fingers massaging the fleshy pad on the sole.

Blair threw his head back and moaned in ecstasy. "Avant la guerre," he gasped, "I was studying the cultural remnants of the Aztec empire."

"Studying?" Jim's hands drifted into stillness as he realised how little he knew of this man he was sharing a bathtub with. "Why?"

Blair demandingly thumped his foot, splashing him. Taking the hint, he resumed the foot massage with a wry little smile as the Maquisard continued. "I was studying the people..." He slid down further in the tub as Jim hit a sensitive spot "oooooooooooo.......anthropology....."

Jim started on the other foot. "So you were studying to be an anthropologist?"

"Am an anthropologist," Blair was melting into a puddle under the strong fingers. "Professor. Got my doctorate three days before they broke the Maginot Line."

Jim let his hands move on their own as he studied the smaller man. Blair a Professor? He looked no older than 26, 27, not the stuffy, grey haired gentlemen he usually associated with that level of knowledge.

Blair arched lazily as he fished for the soap, water lapping the edges of the bath as he recovered his prize. Soap, real soap, an incredible luxury with the nazi restrictions. More highly prized than chocolate, even - chocolate might taste nice, but you couldn't roll it over your body to get rid of the smell. "So what about you?" he asked, lathering up a foam in his fingers and gesturing for Jim to turn around.

A little uncomfortably, Jim did, sighing in relief as strong fingers began washing his back, massaging away subtle aches.  "Army. My brother cashed in big on the crash of '29, he owns some company in the US." He moaned happily as the hands started on his sore shoulders. "Never really could get into the corporate dig, so I went back into the armed forces. Then the war started and..." he shrugged.

Warm water waved around them as Blair shifted in the tub, bringing his legs up under himself and kneeling on them as he continued his washing. "And that's it? Just army?" His hands slid up to knead the base of the older man's neck. "No wife?" He started soaping the top of Jim’s head, an innocent half smile tickling his lips as he formed strange shapes with the foamy hair. "No children? No little cottage by the seashore?"

Jim opened his mouth in reply, the caught sight of himself in the edge of the mirror by the bath.  "What the?!?" Turning, he glowered at the anthropologist from under his soapy mohawk, lips twisting unsuccessfully to hide a smile.

Blair made a small panicked sound of laughter and tried hurriedly to untangle his legs and escape the tub.

With a snarl, Jim lunged, water flying everywhere as he grabbed hold of the fleeing Maquisard and dunked him back in the bath.

Blair squawked and spluttered, flailing madly water flying everywhere to drip down Jim’s face with a few stray  soap bubbles as he squirmed free.  The mixture drifted across his eyes and with a curse he drew back, scrubbing at his burning eyes.

Immediately Blair’s hands were on his shoulder. "Easy, lean back, easy," the voice was calm and soothing as he filled a glass with water from the faucet and carefully rinsed the soap from Jim’s eyes, tilting it back further to rinse his hair.

Finally Jim opened his eyes, blinking a little.  Blair was crouched over him, concern in the blue eyes fading to happy relief.  "I’m sorry, I didn’t think-"

"’sokay" Jim sat himself up and leaned against the back of the tub. "But I get to return the favor." Blair’s eyes widened in mock horror at the evil cackles reverberating through the bathroom.