baby steps

<div align=center>"I'm going, I'm going!" Hadrian answered, making sure the back door was locked before heading out of the kitchen, down the hallway and up the staircase. The main bathroom was on the first left, through a set of rather magnificent looking double doors. Hadrian's bathroom was larger than most bedrooms, with a huge, sunken bathtub that was situated in front of a large window that looked out onto the garden. If you looked out of it you'd be able to see Altair lying lazily on the patio, waiting for his fur to dry off. The windowsill was lined with various little candles and scattered flowers. The only thing the room lacked was a shower, though there was one of those in his en-suite.

Placing Ania carefully on the tiled floor, the boy crossed the room to run the taps out into the currently empty bathtub. Where's Alfred? He should be doing this. Though his butler was elusive when he had company, Hadrian never really knew where he got off to at times like this, and seldom cared to question him. There was a washing basket next to a distressed-style chest of drawers on the left side of the room, Hadrian gestured to it, "you can put your clothes in there, when you take them off. I'll ensure they get washed for you."</div>

<div align=center>Waiting for a moment to let the last few drops of water fill the tub, Hadrian kicked the tap off with his foot. Steam rose up from the water, floating in transparent white tendrils that fogged the large window and made the bathroom mirror cloudy. A set of little lights underneath the water illuminated the tub, causing the water to cast shadows all along the bottom of it. Hadrian didn't feel like lighting as many candles as he had lined up along the windowsill, so he left those for now, besides, he'd only have to blow them all out later.

"It's ready," he answered, with a nod, crouching for a moment to check the temperature of the water with his hand. It was hot, but not so much that it'd burn to get in. Moving over to the wash basket and knocking the lid off, Hadrian stripped out of his swim shorts and dropped them into it. He perhaps wasn't the sort of person you could call shy, not really, especially around someone he was so comfortable with. Climbing carefully into the bath, Hadrian sat himself at one end of the bath, it wasn't so deep that you couldn't sit up in it, but deep enough to reach the top of the boy's stomach.</div>

<div align=center>Glancing backwards for a moment and almost marveling at the way the girl's body was crafted, the sight of her elicited a short purr from the boy. "You're beautiful, y'know?" He murmured, his arms slipping around the girl's waist as she climbed up to sit in his lap. He brought her close for a moment, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to her lips and running his hands down the curve of her back. Her skin was warm and soft and he wanted her closer if that was even possible. "You're right," he returned, his lips brushing against her jugular. "This is much better."

Hadrian felt lucky, studying the girl's features, she really was beautiful. The stark contrast between those bright red eyes and her pale skin reminded him of a sunset on a snowy day. "I love you, I wish you were here all the time." He frowned a little at the thought that she'd probably end up going back to her own dorm at the school tomorrow. Sure, he had his butler and the workers he hired to do the odd jobs around the house, but they weren't Ania. No one was anything like her. "Everyone else is super boring compared to you."</div>

<div align=center>Hadrian had no idea why she wasn't here all the time. It seemed logical to him, really. It felt right when she was here, he liked having her around and he liked the way she made him feel. "Stay here." He finally said, his gaze flickering upwards to meet hers. "There's enough room for you." There was in fact probably enough room for three of her. She wouldn't be as special if there was more than one of her, though. Besides, he'd have to divide his love up into three, and he didn't like the thought of two sad little Ania's while one was getting all the love and attention.

That thought excited him. He wanted her to move in and live with him. "Move in with me. This place has gotta be nicer than the school dorms, right?" He sure hoped so, he'd spent enough money on it. Or rather, his parents had. He clung to her a little tighter as she shuffled closer, feeling a friendly warmth spread through his stomach that brought a soft frown to his lips, forcing himself to ignore the sensation for the time being. "Ah, I'm not sure I'd have any fun at all without you."</div>

<div align=center>"Good." Hadrian answered, tagging a smile onto the end of it, "It'll be nice to welcome you into my household." Though he didn't think it was really much of a household, him, an over-sized kitten and the various employees he had around when they were here. None of them really lived with him, aside from the butler, and he came and went as he pleased. He could always help Ania bring her things over, and getting back to school in the mornings wasn't an issue, since they more or less had the same schedules for lessons each day. That was exciting to have Ania move in with him, it was altogether very rare for Hadrian to feel excitement.

Though when he realized what Ania was hinting at, it was a different kind of excitement that overtook his body instead. Arms unwrapping themselves from around her, and hands idly drifting to the girl's chest, the boy pointedly lifted an eyebrow. "Busy?" He asked, innocently. "Well, I wasn't," Hadrian's gaze shifted down to where she'd brought her hands to rest, a dirty little smile crossed his face, "but it looks like I am now, doesn't it?" Not that he minded at all about being busy in this kind of situation, in fact, by now he welcomed it.</div>