Ansel took the towel from Lucio's hands and began rubbing it along his body. He watched quietly as Lucio did the same, taking the opportunity to once again admire each soft line of Lucio's body. When Lucio left the bathroom to attend to the soiled bed sheet, Ansel stayed and attended to some of his nightly rituals. The professor had become meticulous in his age, preferring to do all he could to maintain his youth as the years went by. While there was a small subset of gay men who enjoyed the look of an older gentleman, ageism was alive and well in the gay community and Ansel did whatever he could to combat it. It was fine enough to<i>be </i>forty, as Ansel would in just a few days' time, but to<i>look</i>forty was virtually unacceptable. The man washed and lotioned his face, brushed his teeth and put a small amount of moisturizer in his beard before heading into the bedroom to see Lucio already snuggled up without him.<br/><br/>"I'm curious to see if this bed is as good for sleeping as it is for fucking," Ansel mused lightly, sliding into bed next to Lucio and bridging the distance between the two men. The professor pulled the smaller man to him, spooning him affectionately. He pressed a few light kisses against his companion's neck and breathed in heavily, taking in Lucio's naturally pleasant scent.<br/><br/>It didn't take long for the professor to drift off to sleep. The bed enveloped him, making him feel as if he were sleeping on air, and Lucio had done his job at tiring the older man out. The professor slept dreamlessly, contentedly, in a way that he hadn't done in a long time. Rarely, if ever, did he sleep next to his partners--with the obvious exception of Petra who had the unfortunate habit of kicking quite a bit in her sleep. Typically, Ansel would entertain himself with whatever young thing he came across and then immediately leave, never wanting to repeat his mistakes with Kendrick and inadvertently causing another toy to fall for him.<br/><br/>But Lucio . . . Ansel didn't mind lying with Lucio. In fact, he somehow found it more comforting than lying on his own. But perhaps that was just the exhaustion talking.<br/><br/>The next morning, hours after the sun had already risen and light was streaming through the crack in the window curtains, Ansel's eyes fluttered open. He stretched out his arms and moaned slightly, feeling pains in his muscles from his activities the night prior. "Lucio?" he said groggily, stretching out his hand to see if the younger man was still next to him on the expansive bed.