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It was rare to find murdoc wearing clothes that covered most of his body. He usually walked around Kong in just his jeans, sometimes when noodle wasnt there, he'd be in just his boxers. But today, he made his way to the bathroom in joggers and a hoodie. His skin was paler than usual and he shivered slightly.
He made his way to kongs bathroom, leaning against the wall for support. With droopy eyelids, he made his way to the bathrooms door, grabbing the knob and turning it, opening the door. When he looked inside, he caught sight of Stuart getting undressed, seemingly getting ready to take a shower. Stuart looked back as they heard the door open and saw a dishevelled murdoc. It took Murdoc a couple seconds to register what he was looking at before he spoke up.
"Oh, shit, sorry. I was... just... gonna take a shower. Didn't know you were also doing that." His voice was rough and croaky, like he had been coughing earlier. Stuart just looked back at him with wide eyes, glancing up and down at the shorter man.
"Uh, yeah. ... ...you look like shit." Stuart pointed out.
"Yeah, feel like shit. Bloody cold.." murdoc grumbled a few more words that Stuart didn't pick up on before turning around to start heading back to his room, but the sound of Stuart's voice made him turn his head to look back at the vocalist.
"Yknow, if you're cold, you can always just take a bath. It'll warm you up." Stuart, without even asking, turned to the bath and turned on the water, water shooting out of the nozzle. Murdoc looked on curiously, he could spot some steam emerging from the water that was pouring out of the baths nozzle. Warm water. Murdoc took a small step forward towards the entrance of the bathroom. The idea of submerging himself in hot water to warm up and relax sounded nice and it would probably also relax some of his tense muscles.
"Looks like I don't have a choice in the saying anyways..." murdoc mumbled under his breath, but internally, he was happy about the prospect of the bath. He made his way beside Stuart who was filling up the tub with the hot water.
"Here, this should be warm enough to warm you up." Said Stuart who stood up from their crouched position and turned to Murdoc who was looking down into the tub. The water rippled as more water filled the tub. Murdoc let out a small yawn, opening his eyes to see Stuart's hands reaching out to him. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Stuart as they held the back of his head, their other hand going brush his bangs away from his forehead to feel his temperature. As stuart held the back of their hand to murdoc's forehead, they felt the scorching heat coming off of the others skin.
"You're bloody hot. Think you got a fever, mate." They said as they removed their hand from murdoc's forehead. "Alright, get in the water, I'll be right back." They continued before walking out of the bathroom. Murdoc didn't have the energy to argue. He was tired, his muscles hurt, and he was so cold. Murdoc slowly took off his hoodie, throwing it on the floor. He then continued with his joggers and boxers, taking them off and throwing them in a small pile of clothes. Once he was naked, he made his way to the bath, and stepped inside, lowering himself and laying down in the warm embrace of the water. He let out a sigh, appreciating the warmth his body was getting, when Stuart came back into the bathroom with a bag of bath salt, and an extra towel.
"Can you dim the lights?" He asked the blue haired man in a quiet tone. Stuart said nothing as they went to the lights and dimmed them down to a soft, warm glow.
"Thinking of putting bath salt in there, helps your muscles relax" Stuart says, as they open the bag. Murdoc just mumbles a small "okay". The bag of bath salt had a small cup inside, which Stuart used to scoop out some of the salt and pouring it into the warm water. They set the cup to the side, then going over to the baths tap and turning off the flow of water. Murdoc let out a sigh, closing his eyes. Satan, was he tired.
The past couple days he'd been overwhelmed with getting the right people to agree to collab for noodles album she had made all by herself. He was so proud of her. All of the songs she had wrote, and somewhat tried to compose, were perfect. She had told him all the artist she wanted a collab with for this album, and he had been holed up in his room trying to contact those musicians or convince them to collab with them. He had also been helping noodle out with composing some of the parts she had trouble with, which wasnt really a problem, but it did add up to all the chores he had to do such as also dealing with the contractors and record labels greedy bullshit. No doubt he'd become sick from overworking himself, and then not taking care of himself when he was sick, which led it to it being worse. What an idiot.
Murdoc opened his eyes again, looking up at the ceiling. He then turned his head and saw Stuart had unbuckled their belt and pants, dropping them onto the floor and kicking them away.
"You going to shower?" Murdoc asked. What a stupid question, of course they were. That's what they were going to do before he came in-
"No." Stuart responded, kicking off their boxers. Murdoc's eyebrows raised, although you couldn't see it under his bangs.
"...then what are you doing?"murdoc asked again, watching as Stuart walked over to the edge of the bathtub.
"I'm joining you" Stuart replied as they stepped into the tub behind murdoc. Murdoc's eyes widen and he sits up quickly in surprise, a bit too quickly. His head feels so much heavier and it feels like the room is spinning. He brought his hand up to his head, holding his head in his hands, pressing the palm of his hands into his eyes and he let out a groan. Murdoc felt a pair of hands snake around his torso and lead him to lay back down, this time against a soft chest.
"There we go, just lay down and relax" Stuart spoke up. They were now sat down behind murdoc, leaned against the tub, his chest just above water. Murdoc removed his hands from his face, bringing them back to his sides.
"Wha... I- wh.. " murdoc tried to form a question, but with each try, the words died on his tongue. Murdoc just sighed and leaned his head back, it laying right under Stuart chin, and closed his eyes. What the hell was he doing?
As he let his thoughts go free, he felt the hands on his torso start to move to his chest. What the hell was Stuart doing? He didn't care to say it out loud, and just let the vocalist do what they were doing. He felt the man behind him making odd paterns with their fingers on his chest and ribs. It felt nice, in a way, The tingling sensation their fingers left behind on the skin they had just passed over. Murdoc just focused on the hands dancing around his chest and sides, eventually coming up to his collar bones, and the shoulders.
Murdoc let out a yawn as he flipped over onto his stomach, laying his head in Stuart's chest, his ear over their heart. hearing the little thumps of Stuart's heart calmed him down, along with Stuart's long fingers now dancing around his back.
"This is... yeah, this is good..." mumbled murdoc, a small smile pulling at the corner of his lips.
"Glad you like it.." responded Stuart, their voice calm, and soft. Just like their touch. Murdoc kept his eyes closed, and pressed himself against Stuart more, taking in the attention and comfort. He focused on Stuart's touch, how his hands would sometimes massage the knots in his back, making Murdoc let out a small moan of satisfaction in the process. His body felt heavier and heavier and all sounds seemed to fade away as he fell asleep, surrounded by the warmth given by the hot water, and the soft touches of his vocalist holding him.
Stuart's hands didn't stop their movement after murdoc had fallen asleep, their hands mapping out the bassists back and overall shape. Sometimes feeling the rough skin of an old scar they had no idea the origins of, and when their fingers trailed along his spine, they felt how it was somewhat crooked in some places.
But that peace was eventually broken when Russel stepped into the room wearing only basketball shorts, and a towel in hand. His milky white eyes widened at the sight of Stuart holding a sleeping Murdoc in the bathtub.
"Huh, look at you two." He teased. Stuart looked up the the drummer and chuckled softly.
"Heh, uh yeah. Just... trying to warm up Mudz. Has a fever and said he was cold."
"Yeah, looked a little pale earlier. Just gonna take a shower real quick if that's fine with you."
"Yeah, that's completely fine. Think it's time for me and murdoc to get out anyways, starting to get pruny." Stuart commented and they looked at one of their hands, seeing how the skin on their fingers had started to wrinkle up.
"Yeah, makes sense." Russel responded as he put his towel on the counter. Stuart looked back down at murdoc and put a hand a his shoulder, shaking him lightly.
"Hey, murdoc, wake up. We're going to bed." They said. Murdoc's let out a groan as he held on tighter to Stuart before slowly blinking his eyes open. He lifted his head up with half lidded eyes and looked around the room. He first saw Stuart, who he was laying on, remembering he was in a bathtub, and the water had lost its warmth. He then lifted his head a bit higher and spotted Russel leaned against the counter. Murdoc let out a groan before burying his face back in the crook of Stuart neck.
"Oh no no, cmon murdoc. We're getting out." Stuart said as they lifted murdoc up from under his arms and maneuvered him into a sitting position. As Murdoc was still waking up from his nap, Stuart got up and out of the bath, drying themselfs off as they chatted with Russel. By the time Stuart had finished drying off, murdoc had reluctantly pulled himself out of the bath and started drying himself off as well. After a minute, both murdoc and Stuart were dressed and walking out of the bathroom, saying goodnight to Russel who closed the door after they had exited.
"Feeling better?" Asked Stuart as they looked over at murdoc.
"Eh... still feel like shit.." murdoc grumbled before a shiver ran down his spine. Stuart just looked at him before wrapping one of their arms around the shorter man.
"Cmon, let's go to my room." They insisted, pulling murdoc towards their room. Murdoc groaned, but didn't say anything to stop. Murdoc let himself be led by Stuart to their room. He closed his eyes, feeling sleep catching back up to him. The sound of a door opening brought his foggy mind back to reality, and he opened his eyes to see Stuart leading him into their bedroom. Stuart padded over to their bed with murdoc in toe.
"Here, lay down." Stuart said, although it felt more like an order. Murdoc slowly crawled into the bed, Stuart following after him and wrapping the both of them in their thick covers. Murdoc sniffles a bit as he feels his cheek being pressed against Stuart's chest. They were warm and soft, it felt nice against Murdoc's sensitive skin. Murdoc rolled onto his side, facing Stuart and gluing himself to the taller man, leashing off their body heat.
"Here, now you can go back to sleep." Stuart spoke up as they wrapped their arms around the bassist, bringing him closer. Murdoc just let out a sleepy hum as he snuggled more into Stuart. He’d never admit this out,our of course, but having Stuart wrapped around him, embracing him tightly, made him feel comforted.
“G’night murdoc.” Stuart mumbled into the top of Murdocs hair while one of their hands combed through the hair at the bottom of Murdocs neck, slowly making its way to his scalp. Murdoc let out another small hum of acknowledgement, to tired to speak up, and closes his eyes as a small smile tugs at the corners of his lips.