He stepped into the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the light for obvious reasons. There would still be light pouring in through the open door, enough to see him by. He ran his hands along the counter, and then turned the cold water on in the sink, letting it run. Once upon a time he would have been more conservative with his water usage, but that didnāt seem to matter as much. He had no qualms about letting the water run while he went about his ablutions, or taking extremely long showers, or better yet baths. If the place they were in could materialize whatever they wanted, he doubted there was any risk of ever running out of good old H2O.
Oliver had agreed to pick him out an outfit, and had been about to say something before Kanari charged in. Cass recognized his voice, of course, and his rapid footsteps, and he definitely recognized the sound of two boys falling to the ground in an awkward post-tackle tangle of limbs. Heād been on the receiving end of those tackles often enough that it wasnāt remotely hard to discern what had happened in the adjacent room.
While Kanari rambled, Cass was only paying half-attention. He was more focused on getting his toothbrush out of the little holder. His fingertips brushed the bristles as he tried for it, but then he had it in hand. Opening the medicine cabinet, he reached for the tube of toothpaste. He kept it dead center on the bottom shelf so it would be easy to find. Heād just gotten his hands on it when suddenly, something grabbed him. He let out a yelp of surprise and wound up knocking the tube of toothpaste down onto the floor; it sort of bounced, and wound up near the corner where the wall met the bathtub.
It was hard to be mad at someone when they were hugging you. Riās warmth was familiar, and he relaxed quickly enough. āIām fine, Iām fine. You shouldnāt just run in and hug people in the bathroom, Ri. What if Iād been-ā He cut off. He didnāt want to say any of the things that would complete that sentence, not with Oliver in ear shot. With Kanari he wouldnāt have held back so much, just to get his point across. Heād found that he had to be pretty blunt with Kanari when it came to anything to do with personal privacy. That was when Oliver told Kanari to go, and Cass couldnāt help but feelā¦ well, whatever the opposite of the jealousy heād felt last night was. He didnāt think of it as a competition at all. It was more that there was only so much time, and Oliver spent a lot of it being prickly, so Cass valued what moments they did have without the more eccentric boys around.
āIt wonāt take long, Riā¦ I donāt need to shower or anything. Before you go though, can you grab my toothpaste?ā Heād been too surprised to listen for where it had fallen, and it could have taken him many minutes to locate it. In the meantime, he touched his fingers to the hot water knob then moved his hand to the left until he found the soap he kept there. It was a face wash, something meant for sensitive skin. His pale flesh didnāt react well to harsher soaps, but fortunately, he could get whatever kind of soap he wanted. This soap had a clean, medicinal scent rather than any kind of fragrance. Squeezing a dollop into his hands, he worked up a lather, dipping his hands beneath the stream of the faucet for just a second to add some water to the equation. He started washing his face, actually closing his eyes (it wasnāt something he did often while he was awake) to avoid getting any suds in them. He rubbed his face vigorously, and washed his neck as well, then tilted his head to either side to wash behind his ears. He got a little out of breath doing it, or rather, heād held his breath, not wanting any soap in his mouth or nose, then reached out with his right hand, managing to grab the clean towel that he hung there each evening after his nighttime rituals. He wet it, giving his face a cleansing wipe, then used the dry part of the towel to finish up. By then, he should have had his toothpaste again.
Oliver would find plenty of clothing to choose from. Cass favored short pants on the baggy side, so there were several pairs in a few different colors. He usually wore short-sleeved button down shirts over an undershirt, and the same was true of them; many colors, patterns, styles. Heād had the machine spit out whatever. Color really didnāt mean anything to him. So long as it was comfy, he would have worn hot pink all the time. Even so, he hoped that Olly would pick out something that he liked Cass in. Underwear and socks would be the easiest part. The top drawer had nothing but clean tighty-whiteys and ankle socks. He didnāt like crew or tube socks. They felt weird on his calves.