dumbshow | incredibly indulgent shipping post

[Another surprise—like it hadn't occurred to Jindosh either that Paolo would have picked up his book, despite how there are at least four copies in easily accessible places around the mansion. So the look on his face for just a moment is much more genuine than the annoyed expression he's been sporting since breakfast, and it's Paolo's fault.]

How much of my book did you read? [No, we're talking about this now, forget everything else.]

[Oh, he can't make faces like that. It means Paolo will smile more, and it's already unacceptable that he is now. Jindosh is dreadful.]

All of it. [He says matter-of-factly, as if this makes him more qualified to be interesting.] A few times. Don't know what you were thinking in 23; no one saw those faces and greeted them with anything but screams. You changed them because wood's cheaper and sturdier, am I right?

[Look at him... he can be smart.]

[Don't call him out, he'll take back his forgiveness!! He's sensitive. It's too bad he has his own book memorized and that fact is obvious, or maybe he could get away with pretending he doesn't know what Paolo is talking about.]

Now you're clever? Please. [maybe, he'll never tell. It's time to get out of the walls and take Paolo back upstairs to put on clean clothes, meanwhile.] ...They were also top heavy.

And shattered easy. [Paolo has to add, after so many hours of conversations where he didn't know anything to say. He's keeping close, though, even if he didn't see anything wrong with being this filthy. It was one of his better looks.]

The bird head is nice. [He'll stop calling him out, he guesses, since he wants to stay in good graces.] Your face is nice, too, but... uh... I prefer not seeing it when they're trying to skewer me. Where are we going?

[Stop calling him out!!—oh, he did stop. Jindosh still gives him a look, but tugs him along by his hand instead of stopping to discuss how Paolo figured out that half of a grinning porcelain face is his face. Never mind.]

Upstairs. You've ruined my clothes, so I'll have you change and then stay there.

[Don't worry, Paolo's not that observant, Jindosh probably told him... but when did he tell him? It's a good thing he's not thinking about it, and Paolo's too distracted by how they're still holding hands.]

And stay there. [He repeats, his brows raising in amusement.] I'm curious as to what your plans are to keep it that way, Kirin.

[Jindosh won't use the speaker because of the maids, but he'll hold Paolo's hand all the way back upstairs. Any maids along this route are acceptable losses, he supposes. They're going to have to take the elevator which is simply awful. But it's the quickest way back to Jindosh's private rooms that doesn't involve levers, and efficiency is key.]

I was going to trust that you don't enjoy getting lost and hurting yourself in the dangerous insides of my house, but I suppose if I must turn off all the mechanisms so that you are stuck in a particular room, I may do that.

[Maids are making an effort not to look directly at them, exploding into whispers as soon as they've passed by. Paolo's taken a habit of waving to them up until they step into the elevator, where he of course, is still not letting go of his hand.]

That's a lot of effort to make me not hit my head once. [One time!!] You can't just lock me in there, what am I supposed to do? Talk to your machines? Admire the view without you?

[Jindosh, for his part, is just ignoring the maids. Angrily, but at least he's not yelling at anyone right now. He doesn't yank his hand away from Paolo's the moment they're in the elevator, either—he's going to hold onto him until he can maybe lock him in a room somewhere. That's normal.]

Yes. You can't honestly expect to monopolize my time all day. Read your little book while I'm working.

If I'm just going to read a book while you're working, I might as well have the pleasure of your company. [Paolo leans, but finds he has to stand on the tips of his toes to get even remotely close to whispering in his ear.

He opts to kiss his cheek instead.] Come on. I can be quiet.

[Paolo is so short... Jindosh doesn't make it any easier for him to reach his face, but he can't help the face he makes when Paolo kisses his cheek. It is the face of a man trying not to smile, twisting his mouth around stupidly to resist.

Paolo is dreadful.] One sound from you and I'll lock you in my chambers.

[So... fine!! Pit stop to get him new pants, and then he can sit in a chair in the lab and not speak.]

[Being locked in his chambers wouldn't sound so bad if he knew Jindosh wasn't going to be working the whole time. So he cooperates, changing out his pants for the shortest thing Jindosh owns and shutting his mouth when they stepped into the lab.

He did start out reading quietly. He really, truly did. But there were words he didn't understand, and he didn't want to ask yet again, so he finds himself staring at Jindosh from over the woodworking station, rolling an unfinished piece in his hand.]

[Paolo will have to wait to be locked in his chambers with Jindosh, alright. There is work to be done. Jindosh stands around with his hands on his hips, looking impatient for Paolo to change the moment he lets go of his hand to send him rifling through his clothes. He could have just grabbed something for him himself, but no, he's chosen to do this.

At least he makes a pleased kind of noise when Paolo is fiiinally ready to go to the lab. Jindosh deposits him in a chair and then goes back to ignoring him, but this time it's because of his work and not because he's mad. He's caught up in his work within minutes, occasionally muttering to himself and a few times just stepping back from his work table to pace around the other half of the room, thinking. (He doesn't go near Paolo because he needs to focus, thank you.) Sometimes he even looks at a clipboard, wherever that came from.

By the time Paolo gives up and just stares at him, he's probably moderately smudged with grease and charcoal from sketching between fiddling with machinery. He's even loosened his cravat, because it's warm in here and natural philosophy is really intense.

Still. Without looking up:] Don't touch that.

[Paolo's so distracted by the rare sight that is Jindosh dirty that he almost drops the piece he's not supposed to be touching. He grabs it last second, setting it back on the table such little subtlety there's no point in lying.]

You-- [He starts, but stops abruptly, remembering he's not supposed to be distracting him. He sighs in annoyance, slumping in his chair and just looking at the unfinished clockwork torso across from him. Like it would understand his pain.

He didn't learn his lesson, because he's gonna touch the head anyway.]

[Jindosh actually looks up from his work when Paolo makes a sound, eyebrow raised, clearly waiting to see if he needs to lock anybody upstairs again. Hmm? No?? Okay.

It's back to work then, until Paolo touches the clockwork's head, at which point Jindosh just sighs and puts down his magic clipboard with an irritable little clack.] Come here.

[Paolo freezes with his hand still on the wood, dropping it with the defeated sigh. He stares at the clipboard instead of Jindosh when he crosses over to meet him.

At least he can see how cute he is with the smudges up close.] Yeah?

[Jindosh holds up a finger for him to wait, then circles around the table to go knock some spare screwdrivers off a short wooden stool next to a different table (he will pick those up later), which he then carries back to his work space and plunks down in front of Paolo.]

Sit here. Stop touching things. [Perhaps being closer to him will actually help?? He's hopeful. It's tragic.]

[Paolo blinks, putting a hand on his hip at all the effort he's going through. He shouldn't grin, but he does, and it's a miracle he's not calling him cute again.] Sure.

[He'll stop touching things after he wipes a smudge off Jindosh's nose with his thumb. Focus with his satisfied face as he sits back down, he dares him.]

[Don't do that thing that he just did to Paolo an hour ago. Jindosh blinks, bringing a hand up to his face and almost touching his nose and inadvertently smudging it again, but changing his mind and just giving Paolo a look. Stop. Be quiet.

It's back to work, then, which isn't hard to do with Paolo there at all until he realizes Paolo keeps giving him that smug look. Jindosh makes it a few whole minutes before he whaps his clipboard down again.] Don't you have something to read?

Hm? [With how it takes Paolo a few seconds to even register he had a question, it's obvious he hasn't been thinking about the book for awhile. With how he can't touch anything, he's been focused on Jindosh, enjoying all the little details when he isn't being smart at Paolo.]

There's too many words I don't know. [He finally admits, shrugging his shoulders and leaning back.] You're nice to look at.

[It has been maybe 16 hours and already, having a lover or boyfriend or whatever word there is for this is very time-consuming. Jindosh stares back at Paolo like he can't quite comprehend why Paolo wants to stare at him for this long. Look at everything in this room? Can't he stare at any of these interesting machines, as long as he keeps his hands to himself??

This is ridiculous. He puts his hands on his hips again, frowns, then holds out a hand for the book.] Which words? Give it to me.

[Why can't Jindosh let this go like a normal person, it should be flattering!! Paolo blanches, reluctantly relinquishing the book and standing up to look ~~over around his shoulder.]~~

Just uh... It's... [He gulps, flipping through pages until he reached a dog-eared one. It's the last he's touched, and not far in at all. This is embarrassing.] They keep-- they keep saying axles, and in... inclined plans, and I get the springs and bolts but I dunno how to remember what the difference in shit like gears is... and...

[He gets quiet as he goes, realizing how stupid he must sound. It's discomforting, not being at home where all he had to know was how to fix a crossbow.]

[No!! His stupid boyfriend has to be a little less stupid, that's his endgame here. Jindosh frowns at the page he's apparently stopped on, but he'll give Paolo the benefit of the doubt and assume that at least part of his lack of progress is due to how much staring at Jindosh he likes to do.

But wow, it's like explaining to someone that water is wet. He hums thoughtfully, almost like Paolo's ignorance isn't extreme. How does he make these sound... simple...

Ah. He snaps the book shut, tucking it under his arm and gesturing for Paolo to come all the way back to woodworking to look at the clockwork torso. It has plenty of gears, which means it has plenty of axles to point out. He does.] This is an axle. It keeps the gears in place.

[lord help him he was not made to teach] An inclined plane is exactly what it sounds like. [fuck] That is, a... a ramp, of sorts. A slant.

[He'll stare at Paolo until he gets some kind of acknowledgement of understanding.]

[Once again, Jindosh is defying Paolo's expectations. He could have gotten by with a dismissive explanation, or a dismissal back to his quarters until he was done working. He knows these have to be simple, and it shouldn't be something he had time for.

But he does, and Paolo's following with a little dazed look across his face. It takes him a moment to remember to be looking back at the clockwork, but his attention is rapt when he comes to his senses.] S-So-- So it's... uh...

[Give him a minute, he's trying,] Those are... are the regular gears, they aren't curved or anything-- spur! Yeah, right? And the axle just... makes sure they keep on turning.

[That's honestly more than Jindosh thought he would get out of Paolo, so for a moment it's his turn to look a little surprised. It's simple, it's so unbelievably simple that he can't comprehend not getting the basic concepts immediately, so while Paolo sure is an idiot indeed, he's... trying. That has never mattered to Jindosh before; he himself seemed born to take things apart to their most basic components, but somehow Paolo being on less than a novice's level and still trying—

Reading that book, trying to stay within that small space in his heart—suddenly it matters. It feels like he's looking at a different man from the one who angered him with such precision at breakfast; he knows the ins and outs of Paolo's body already, but now a new piece of his puzzle has been turned over. It's another one of those realizations that Paolo is actually serious about this, about him, and Jindosh finally actually believes him.

Terrifying.] That's— more or less. There are numerous other types of gears... [Which he supposes he'll show him as well, taking his hand to lead him to a different part of the workshop where a bunch of unused parts are sitting around. He'll explain, or try to in simple words, and half-walks half-drags Paolo around the lab for a while like this. At least there aren't bloody operating tables on this level—it seems so innocent.]

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