palace_sean

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Sean answered the door, clad only in a pair of green sweatpants and with a towel still slung around his shoulders, his hair damp from the shower. He was somewhat surprised to find Marton standing there, wearing suit trousers, but in shirtsleeves, no jacket or tie. Marton gave him a hesitant smile.

"Not too early, is it?" he asked. "I meant to come down earlier, but got held up."

"No, no, of course not." Sean recovered and gave him a brilliant smile, stepping back to let Marton past. "Bin up for ages. Come in."

"Thanks." Marton walked in to the suite as far as the sitting area and then stopped, pushing his hands into his pockets and rocking to and fro on his heels, a movement Sean recognised as one indicating nervousness and he wondered as to its cause. "I won't stay long." Marton looked at him as he approached. "There was just something I wanted to tell you before you heard it elsewhere."

Sean raised his eyebrows as he took a seat on the couch, rubbing at his hair. "Nothing bad, I hope?"

"No, course not." Marton smiled a reassurance, but didn't sit down. "Why does everyone say that?" he wondered aloud.

"Usually when you say 'before you hear it elsewhere', it's bad news." he offered. "Marton, please sit down. You're making me nervous."

"What? Oh. Right." Marton pulled his hands out of his pockets and did as he was bidden, perching on the edge of the seat as if poised to get up and run at the slightest disturbance. "Eric here?"

"Yeah, he's in the bedroom. Why? You want him to hear this too?" Sean was beginning to wonder if perhaps he'd been pushing it, insisting that he and Marton remain in contact. Maybe his former lover wasn't as 'over it' as he thought?

"Might as well. Two birds with one stone and all that."

Sean nodded and called out. "Eric."

"Yeah?" Eric padded out of the bedroom, nothing but a towel wrapped round his waist, "You alright Se... oh Hi Marton" He suddenly became very conscious of the fact that he was only wearing a scrap of fabric, "Everything ok?" he said, hitching the fluffy fabric up higher, making sure it was wrapped tightly around him.

He saw Marton staring at him and flushed, his cheeks reddening at Marton's gaze. "Um..." he gestured towards the bedroom, "maybe I should go and put some clothes on and then come back out." He waited for a response before leaving.

"I'm sorry. No, I . . ." Marton dropped his eyes to his hands for a moment. "My fault for dropping in unexpectedly. Really," he looked at Eric again, "no need to bother. I'm only going to be here a minute."

"No it's ok... I'll just throw a pair of pants on. Won't take a moment." Eric smiled fondly as he passed Sean "Be back in a minute."

He turned to leave, as he walked his towel slipped down his back, Eric grabbing it before it could expose anything. He doubted that it would be one of their more comfortable meetings if Marton caught a glimpse of his... valuables. He hitched the towel up again, holding it in position as his entered the bedroom, closing the door, it springing open an inch or two as it banged against the doorframe.

A somewhat uncomfortable silence fell while they waited for Eric to return. Marton's face was red and he kept scratching at the back of his neck. Sean couldn't work out what was making him behave that way, especially when he'd already said that the news he had to impart wasn't bad. Surely seeing Eric in a towel and nothing else wouldn't have that effect, would it? Nah! That was just plain stupid.

Marton watched as Eric returned and took the seat next to Sean and directly opposite where he himself was sitting. The small space between them now seemed even smaller, filled as it was by Eric's large frame and Marton shifted back into the couch, gathering himself room.

He cleared his throat and looked at Sean, bringing a small smile into play. "I'm going to be a dad again." he said. "Not with Catherine, but still a dad."

Sean's mouth dropped open and he glanced sideways at Eric.

Eric looked at Sean, openmouthed. Marton was going to be a dad again? Eric didn't even know he was still sleeping with women, never mind trying to have a kid. He wondered how Sean was coping with the news, no emotion present on his face other than shock. He seemed to be taking it ok.

Eric leaned over and gripped Sean's hand, turning his gaze back to Marton as he ran his fingers over warm skin as he waited for someone to speak.

Sean glanced between one and the other, wiped his hand over his face as he tried to discern what Marton was feeling. Nothing untoward reached him and so he said, "Congratulations?" just to be on the safe side.

Marton grinned at that. "Yes." he said. "Absolutely." He relaxed a bit, leaning back and getting comfy in his seat, keeping his eyes on Sean's face. "It's a long story, the how of it is, anyway, and I’ll give you that version when we all have more time. But the short version is that the young lady is staying here now, in the Gold Suite and I wanted to be the one to tell you about it. Not just for the obvious reasons but in case anyone queries the expenses coming through there to my account."

Sean nodded, understanding now. The Palace-owned stores in the foyer sent their in-house accounts through Admin and any queries from the staff would end up on his desk. "Gotcha." he said. "Family know?"

Marton nodded. "Yes. Told them this morning. Told Will too. They're fine with it." He ducked his head for a moment then looked up at both men, grinning broadly. "Looking forward to it, actually. I have more time to spend now."

"Well that's great."

Marton was pleased, Sean seemed happy enough for him; it was all good. Eric smiled, deciding to take the opportunity to tease Marton a little. "You sure you're still up to it?" He smirked, "You're getting on a bit you know." It felt ok to tease the king, right now anyway.

He saw the expression on Marton's face and laughed, bringing his hand up to run through his hair.

"Well thank you so kindly!" Marton laughed. "And you're how much younger than me?"

Sean chuckled, sat up straighter and said, "You like a coffee or something, Marton? We old men can sit around and discuss the new, improved methods of bringing up baby."

“Thank you, no. I’ll get out of your hair.” Marton got to his feet and Sean and Eric did likewise, Sean holding up a hand to stop Marton from moving to the door.

“Hang on,” he said. “I’ll save some poor bugger a trip. I’ve got the quarterly reports.” He vanished into the bedroom to retrieve them.

Left alone with Eric, Marton took a few slow steps in the direction of the door with Eric following him.

Sean came back out the bedroom door in time to see Eric reach past Marton for the door handle and Marton take an involuntary step backward, a step he didn’t even seem to realize he’d made. Strange.

Eric frowned as Marton stepped away from him. He'd noticed his discomfort before. Was it something I've done? he thought, or perhaps something I've said? He tried to look at Marton as if that would make him understand why Marton was so reluctant to be around him.

It was as if he was intimidated by him. But what could he have done in order to make him feel such a way?

Marton looked away the same moment that Eric made eye contact, eyes just skimming each other as Marton moved away, Eric suddenly feeling that he might know what was wrong with Marton after all. If it was what he thought it was, he didn't know how to stop it, or in fact, what to do about it. Instead he decided to just observe - determine whether his suspicions were in fact correct before voicing his concerns.

He would just wait. Marton was bound to do it again anyway. And this time Eric would be paying due attention.