TO lay curled up against DH, their head resting on DH’s chest, DH’s wings wrapped around them. On DH’s stomach, their hands rested one atop the other, their fingers twined. With their mind blissfully blank, TO was happy to watch the rise and fall of their hands as DH breathed.
“We’ve never been able to do this before.” DH said, their voice sounding oddly far away.
“Of course we have.” TO said as their ears twitched. “We’ve done this kind of stuff before.” Their ears flushed as they recalled some of the compromising and frankly embarrassing positions they had been in, the positions they allowed themself to be in. The heat in their ears spread to their cheeks and the back of their neck as they remembered it.
“I know.” DH said as their ears flushed as well, “But... This was different.” They said. “We don’t have anything to rush off to, nothing to worry about. We have our own room for now... it’s odd to be able to just relax afterwards." They gave an awkward chuckle. “Even the odd time we could relax, it was like we had to get as much relaxation in as we could before everything went wrong again. I know there are still things to do, but there’s nothing we need to worry about tomorrow, or even the next day.”
TO nuzzled into DH’s chest, ignoring the heat in their ears as they ran their thumb over DH’s hand. “Well.” they said, “You were different too.”
“No, I wasn’t.” DH said, their ears burning even as they flicked to show their attempt at deception.
“I can tell you’re lying.” TO said as their ears flattened out. “Something was different. You were a lot more-“
DH groaned, “TO, please.”
“Enthusiastic and forceful.” They ignored their own embarrassment for a moment. “It was new. Novel.” They pressed a light kiss to DH’s chest, “I liked -“
“I’m sorry.” DH said, “I didn’t mean to-“
“Don’t you dare finish that statement!” TO said, “I hope you did ‘mean to’!”
Ears still flushed, DH tightened their grip on TO, their wing pressing against them comfortably. “I miss you.” They said. “I mean... I missed us being able to do this during the trip, but...”
“But?” TO looked up, ears flicking back as they listened, as they saw the way DH’s ears flicked down.
“You nearly died.” They said, “And you got sick, and I was worried about you and I missed you-“
“I missed you too,” TO said, “And I missed this.”
“I thought I’d never have this again.” DH said after several silent minutes. “We got there, and you were just lying on the floor, covered in blood...”
It took TO a moment to realize they meant just after Kei escaped, and for the first time, they realized how awful that must have been for DH. If the roles were reversed, TO knew they would be entirely besides themself.
“And then you were in pain because of your injury, and had so many medications going through you, and we didn’t have any time to ourselves, so even though I wanted to just be with you, I couldn’t. and then you got sick-“
“I’m here now.” TO whispered as they tightened their fingers around DH’s hand.
“I know.” DH said. Their free hand came up behind TO’s head to scratch at their neck. “But I didn’t know if you would be sometimes, and whenever I thought about that, I just thought about all the times we had been together, and all the times I couldn’t really relax because I was thinking that proper synths don’t do that kind of thing, and-“
TO reached up with their free hand, palm against DH’s cheek, their fingers against their ear, “We’re not proper synths.” TO said, “We’re not even Synths. We’re Chilacians.”
“NuChilacians?” DH said with a chuckle.
“Maybe.” TO said.
They fell silent, and just as TO was beginning to drift off to sleep, an alert sounded on the walls of their pod.
=== Door: Visitor ===
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
DH groaned and covered their face with their wing to hide the alert, but the soft, bell-like chiming continued. After another moment, DH groaned and got up.
“I’ll get it,” TO said with a groan.
“You’ll stay there.” DH said as their ear flicked in amusement, “How would you get to the door without me? Or even to your chair?”
“Ah, right.” TO said, their ears flushing for an entirely different reason this time.
DH deranged themself from TO, opened the pod door, and rolled out of bed. The pod door slid shut behind them, so TO couldn’t hear what was going on outside. Quickly, they checked their communicator to see if they had a message. Maybe it was something about Constance? There were no new alerts on their communicator, so they figured that it wasn’t that.
A moment later, DH came back to the pod. Wordlessly, they climbed in, grabbed the heavy blanket, and pulled TO into their embrace once more with their arms and wings.
“Who was it?” TO asked, already nuzzling into DH’s chest, content and warm.
“Nothing that can’t wait until tomorrow.” DH said.
TO’s ears flicked, “What was it?” They asked again, “Are we needed, or-“
“It’s not an emergency.” DH said, “And... I don’t want to think about it right now. All I want now is to be here with you, to relax and sleep and enjoy being here with you after all ... That.” Their ears flushed again. “I didn’t feel bad while we were-“ their ears flushed, “Well, during, but now-“
“You feel bad?”
“Not when we’re like this.”
A moment passed before TO relaxed against DH with a contented sigh. They knew what DH meant, and knew how DH’s presence had always stifled the shame they might feel after being so intimate with them, or even by themself. “Alright.” They said “Whatever it was, it’s tomorrow’s problem.”
“Thank you.”
“I love you, DH.” TO wrapped their arms around DH, their hands clasping together at the small of DH’s back.
“I love you too.”
======
TO and DH woke up early, even without alarms. It took them a moment to realize where they were, and after checking their communicators to see that there were no messages waiting for them or urgent calls for help, they curled into one another again and dozed for an additional hour, then cuddled for yet another. It was a luxury that TO never considered they would have, never even knew they’d want until they had it now.
Would it be like this from now on? TO knew that there would be days where they had to get up and do stuff, but would they have these long, peaceful mornings where they didn’t have to rush around to do things? Days where they didn’t have a full schedule of duties, and where there weren’t a million things to do just to keep everyone around them alive?
A comfortable life. Even as they thought about that, they wondered what life would be like on Apokia. If this small makeshift settlement in space was this comfortable for them, what would the Chilacian home world be like?
Finally, they pulled themselves up and out of bed, less out of necessity and more out of a combination of hunger and restlessness. Their clothes in the washroom were more or less clean and dry, though they knew they would have to find their bags with the rest of their stuff in it. As they got dressed and prepared for the day. TO’s mind slowly fired up, and listed off things that had to be done. If Constance wasn’t awake yet, they’d have to go and see if everything was alright. Yes, they didn’t have any notifications saying she wasn’t, but they wanted to check, anyway. They’d have to check on Avery as well. Ideally, Avery would have had their own room, but TO knew that they wouldn’t have liked that. They hadn’t been in a position to resolve that problem themself, but had sent off a message to the one ScrapRock contact they had to ensure that Avery wasn’t alone.
They also wanted to check on Lendulin and Petra. Where were those two planning to go? Did they even have a plan?
These were the things they were thinking as DH helped them into their chair and made their way to the door. A hundred thoughts, a hundred things to do. It didn’t bother them: They liked having things to do, especially when these things weren’t life or death, and didn’t need to be taken care of as soon as possible. No, they liked it when they could make a list, and figure out what was most important to get done, what was least important, and what was most important to them specifically.
They were so invested in organizing all this that they didn’t realize at first that someone was waiting for them as the door opened. They quickly saved what they were working on and glanced up, expecting Azizi to be there, or Maybe Flit or Snout.
They didn’t expect GiDi to be there. Moreover, they didn’t expect GiDi to be there, standing before them with low ears and huge eyes.
After everything that had happened, they especially didn’t expect GiDi to fall to their knees next to TO, and wrap their arms and wings around them before sobbing into TO’s chest. Shock, surprising, and pure confusion flooded them as their small friend wept, and all TO could do was hold them, rubbing their back and scratching the back of GiDi’s neck in an attempt to calm them down. They were so surprised that they didn’t even notice Avery standing there until GiDi began to calm down.
“What happened?” TO asked, trying to figure out what would put their friend in a state like this. Later, they would realize that when GiDi collapsed on them like that, that they had entirely forgotten about everything that happened before. All they cared about in that moment was that GiDi was hurt.
“Well... Nothing happened, specifically.” Avery said, frowning at DH, “But they’ve been desperate to talk to you since they got sick, and DH wouldn’t let them!”
DH’s ears flicked back, “I had good reason!” DH said, “Every time those two spoke since the incident, TO has ended up entirely shattered, and-“
“It’s fine.” TO said quickly, holding GiDi close. “It’s fine.” They rested their head atop GiDi’s and let their friend rest in their lap. “That doesn’t matter now.”
Avery sighed. “You all are idiots.” They said, “I wonder if the role of the ‘Ankrya’ is to be the only one who can think right.” They shook their head, and looked into the Room, “Got enough space for us? I think we all need to talk.”