"Yes, you can: First, make noise," Gaius says, mouth still a presence right beneath one long ear, letting his spit-slick lips brush here and there, voice gravely and low. (Smoke damage; Estinien likely knows the rasp well, and it has only been some months since the Praetorium burned.) "Be quiet if you must, but don't fight for silence. It helps neither of us."

His hands stay on Estinien from below, before he says, "That you want to do something is good. What do you want to do? Where do you want to be touched? Tell me and we can keep going."

Stay silent, and those hands will withdraw from his thighs.