"I'm telling you, you're going to have to buff it."
Rei stares up the length of the flue, calculating the width. His glasses slip when he looks back down and he pushes them up with one hand. "I can make it." Without waiting for Nagisa's derisive snort, he twists to his feet inside the chimney and starts up, brush hand leading, a dance of precision and restraint as he shimmies up and up, scraping away the filth without being scraped himself. Satisfaction fills his smile.
Pushing out of his slouch as soon as Rei's feet disappear, Nagisa strips naked in anticipation. He tips his head back as he follows, by soft grunts and steady shuffle, his partner's progress.
The shuffling stops.
There's a sharp grunt, a flurry of kicked-down soot.
Then nothing.
Nagisa watches the midpoint of the chimney expectantly.
"Nagisa?" Rei's voice wafts down with the ashes settling on the hearth.
Nagisa smiles silently.
"Give me a hand, would you?"
Nagisa ducks inside the chimney opening. "What's that?"
"I'm, uh..."
"Stuck again, are you?"
Rei's sigh drifts down to him with the soot now dusting Nagisa's smiing face. The words "so not beautiful" get tangled in the next sigh that floats down.
Smiling even wider now, Nagisa wordlessly disagrees.
_____
NOTES: Because even the thinnest layer of clothing could make the difference between getting through and getting stuck, chimney sweeps in Victorian England would sometimes strip off entirely when cleaning a chimney. They referred to this practice as "buffing it."
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Rei stares up the length of the flue, calculating the width. His glasses slip when he looks back down and he pushes them up with one hand. "I can make it." Without waiting for Nagisa's derisive snort, he twists to his feet inside the chimney and starts up, brush hand leading, a dance of precision and restraint as he shimmies up and up, scraping away the filth without being scraped himself. Satisfaction fills his smile.
Pushing out of his slouch as soon as Rei's feet disappear, Nagisa strips naked in anticipation. He tips his head back as he follows, by soft grunts and steady shuffle, his partner's progress.
The shuffling stops.
There's a sharp grunt, a flurry of kicked-down soot.
Then nothing.
Nagisa watches the midpoint of the chimney expectantly.
"Nagisa?" Rei's voice wafts down with the ashes settling on the hearth.
Nagisa smiles silently.
"Give me a hand, would you?"
Nagisa ducks inside the chimney opening. "What's that?"
"I'm, uh..."
"Stuck again, are you?"
Rei's sigh drifts down to him with the soot now dusting Nagisa's smiing face. The words "so not beautiful" get tangled in the next sigh that floats down.
Smiling even wider now, Nagisa wordlessly disagrees.
_____
NOTES: Because even the thinnest layer of clothing could make the difference between getting through and getting stuck, chimney sweeps in Victorian England would sometimes strip off entirely when cleaning a chimney. They referred to this practice as "buffing it."