"And hopefully Leia won't run in the opposite direction when the question comes up," Ender said, and dug his thumb into Ben's muscles with as gentle pressure as he could manage.

"In that case, I hope Saba won't respond poorly," Ender murmured, kissing the side of his head.

"And coming from you, that's a damning accusation," Ender teased gently.

"Oh, I'd be happy to give it a shot," said Ender.

Of course he would. Weirdo.

Ender smiled. "So is this our new protocol for bad news?" he murmured, poking the towel on his hip.

"I would, but you already seem to have the hang of it," Ender teased. He leaned over and dropped a kiss right under Ben's jaw. "I don't mind you mostly naked, for what it's worth."

Ender obliged, though after a moment, he paused. "...as long as this isn't a bad time," he said against Ben's neck.

Sure, Ender, ask the king of repression if he wants to talk about his feelings some more.

"We'll discuss strategy in a little bit, then," Ender said. "You're being very distracting."

Or naked. Or both of those things.

He slid his hand down to touch Ben's thigh right above the towel and leaned in to kiss him properly.

"I'm still not sure you didn't do this on purpose," Ender told him, moving his hand until it was on a very particular part of the towel.

"Fail to change into something with pants and a shirt," Ender murmured, "and lounge around the bed looking damp and ruffled."

Shut up.

He was still a little stressed out and keyed up from what he'd done earlier that day, too. Though the naked was definitely a deciding factor.

He kissed Ben's neck, applying some pressure to his hand.

"They're not," Ender assured him. "But you are." Realizing how ridiculous that sounded, he wriggled his eyebrows.

And promptly slid his hand under the towel instead, onto Ben's thigh.

"That's common knowledge by now, and you don't earn any points for it," Ender told him, pushing the towel away and his hand further up.

"In a minute," Ender promised, sliding down to help Ben, uh, wake up.