Barcus may feel just a little bit laughed at, but it's in a friendly way, a knee-jerk reaction no normal person would be able to stifle, and so after a moment where he covers his mask with both hands, he laughs, himself. "How much worse can I make this? What if I admit I've never ridden a man in public before?"

There's a brief fit of laughter at his own comment, but he recovers valiantly enough, putting a hand on Ashton's shoulder and resting it there for a second before making a careful attempt to climb up, using the bent leg as a step.

Barcus is fairly light, gentle as he can be, and makes an effort not to touch that glimmery place in their skull, or to press too hard where the network of golden fracture lines is the thickest. In the end he just has to trust Ashton to tell him where he can and can't be, though, and he ends up perched on their right shoulder, with an arm around their neck for stability. "If, ah, if you change your mind about this at some point, no hard feelings," he says.

It feels nice, though. Like an embrace.