Page 143 of Untouchable

Mindy comes after an hour, borrowing Parker for another "chore" that sounds like it mostly involves playing with piglets. Harp waves them off and goes to find Mandy, who he'd liked the most. She hands him a bucket and a scrub brush, and it's only half an hour later when Harp is coated in several pounds of mud that he realizes he's supposed to be on a date.

He excuses himself, embarrassed at the abrupt realization that he is not at home with a change of clothes nearby. He'd actually felt relaxed enough, against all odds, to forget that he was out in public. But now that he remembers, it's all he can think about: the big weirdo who showed up uninvited and got covered in dirt like a moron. By the time he catches up with Parker, he feels almost dizzy, like he's completely ruined the day.

* * *

Parker spendsthe next hour sitting in clean, fluffy hay, surrounded by piglets. It is heaven.

“Oh my god,” Parker says with a laugh when Harp appears at the gate to the pen. “Did you fall or something?” Harp’s caked in mud from the knees down, and it’s hard to find a patch of clothing that isn’t streaked with grime.

“No,” Harp says, a little stiffly. “Mandy put me to work.”

“Wanna pet a piglet?” Parker says, standing up and carrying the little baby pig he’d named Oinky to Harp.

"Yeah—I... yes," Harp says. Parker doesn't give him a chance to say no, and the piebald piglet starts screeching the minute it's in Harp's hands. He holds it back out to Parker. "I think it likes you better. Naturally."

Parker scolds the piglet for being rude, and then smiles back up at Harp.

"I guess I ruined our chance of being able to do anything but this today," Harp says, frowning and gesturing down at himself.

“Huh?” Parker asks.

“The mud?” Harp says. Parker can tell Mindy is listening in, so he puts Oinky down and steps out of the pen into the walkway of the barn.

“Oh,” Parker says. He bites his lip, suddenly disappointed. He’d been hoping to spend more one-on-one time with Harp today, and even if they’ve done good work, it’s not exactly how he’d planned for this date to end. “I mean, if you wanna head back, I don’t blame you—it’s gonna get dark soon—but um, like, we could get an early dinner or something?” He’s desperate to keep Harp in town, even for an hour longer.

Harp raises an eyebrow.

“I’m not sure any restaurant is going to let me in looking like this, and I don’t have a change of clothes.”

“Oh, right,” Parker says, feeling stupid. “Um—what if—oh, I know—just come back and shower at my place. I can toss your clothes in the laundry. Then we could get dinner or… see a movie or something…”

He trails off, knowing it’s ridiculous and that Harp is probably itching to get back to his cabin, but he can’t not ask.

"Yeah, that'll work," Harp says quickly. Parker is surprised—that had been quite the last-ditch suggestion, but he doesn’t question it, and soon they’re on their way back to Parker’s house.

* * *

Despite the factthat it's Harp putting on the breaks at every turn, he wants to talk to Parker in private, to feel allowed to touch him and kiss him gently and do the things he's been thinking of since Thanksgiving, familiar and easy.

Harp takes his shoes off at the door and Parker finds a fresh towel for him.

"Make yourself at home with anything you need in the shower," Parker says. "I'll start the laundry, then get us some food."

Parker shows Harp to the bathroom and stands in the doorway, smiling at the sight of Harp towering in their tiny bathroom.

“Um, just… leave your clothes by the door and I’ll grab them once you’re in the shower,” he says.

It's been years since Harp has taken a shower in a bathroom he didn't construct himself, and Parker's bathroom is predictably kinder to Parker's proportions than Harp's.

He strips off his clothes and sets them on the floor.

"Buh," he says softly, catching a glimpse of himself naked in Parker's full-length mirror as he steps into the shower. He immediately elbows a bottle of shampoo that ricochets, dislodging a razor and some sort of grooming tool that Harp has no idea what to make of. He has to stoop slightly to get under the showerhead.

By the end of the shower, Harp has elbowed the shampoo bottle down three times and managed to knee the wall several more times than that. He wonders if Parker can hear him thumping from the kitchen.

* * *

When Parker leadsHarp to the bathroom, it’s hard to resist the urge to sidle up to Harp and kiss him, to suggest they lock the door and slip out of their clothes and step into the shower together. He’s opening his mouth to say exactly that when he remembers that they’re supposed to be taking it slow, and so he leaves Harp to shower in peace.

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