Callie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
calliope_love) wrote2010-11-06 11:07 pm
calliope_love) wrote2010-11-06 11:07 pm
Entry tags:
014: Cranky Liam is cranky
Title: Snugglefluff Untitled I
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I no can has. :C
Summary: Just a bit of fluff I snuck in today. Fluff with some ill-fated foreshadowy lines, given current circumstances -- meh. Anyway you can read it as friendship or blossoming luuuurve as you please. Set somewhere in the 5 or so years right before Oz returns, and references my snuggly little early!Rainsworth headcanon.
Length: 1,387
Liam woke with a start, and his first thought was that the bed he was in was not his own; his second was that he’d just had one of his rare nightmares and his third was that now he wasn’t going to be well-rested for the Pandora business the following morning. Things clicked back into place after that — the unfamiliar ceiling was that of the inn his group was staying in, which was also why his bed was smaller than usual and not so comfy, and the rustling off in the other bed to his left was Xerxes Break.
Of course his roommate for the trip was Xerxes Break. When the issue had come up he had been cheerfully open about how he just couldn’t let poor Liam suffer these nights away from home without his comforting presence. Liam let him get away with it because he knew there was no way in hell Xerxes was letting a random acquaintance from work in the same room with him as he slept. If forced he’d probably just stay up all night and pretend he hadn’t, and then he’d be disagreeable and surly all the next day and make everybody miserable, which was honestly alright with Liam because on some level he’d prefer that over Break actually sleeping when there was a veritable stranger in such close quarters with him, and anyway that was the thing with Xerxes; if you were going to take proper care of him you had to keep him close and gods knew he needed looking after because he was a great big moron who ate cupcakes for dinner and — bah. Stupid Xerxes.
The usual foul mood that came after a nightmare was settling in and even thinking about these things was annoying him to no end. All the same, he turned to squint at Break, hoping he hadn’t woken him. He had, of course. He couldn’t see Break’s face without his glasses, but he was definitely sitting up, just enough to stare back at Liam.
In his defense, Break was a light sleeper.
“Are you alright?” Break asked softly.
“I’m okay,” Liam answered. “Just a bad dream.”
“You still have those?”
“Occasionally. Not very often. I still don’t ever remember them.”
“Mm.” Another rustle as Break stretched; then he drawled snidely, “Would little Noisy-kins like a snuggle?”
Liam huffed. They hadn’t snuggled in years, but naturally Liam, aged twelve and three-quarters at the time, had only needed to seek Break out in the middle of the night once — because it had been obvious from the start that what he had gone through had to be far worse than any nightmare Liam’s mind could come up with and that meant he’d definitely be safe with him — for Break to hold it over his head for the rest of his life. But Break could have just turned him out instead of always being there when Liam needed him so that one was his fault; and no matter how much he would have liked the comfort he was far too old to crawl into bed with him now, though it wasn’t like Break would care about that, or tell anyone, and he’d had nightmares with Xerxes around and nightmares without him and he definitely recovered faster with the company, and he needed to be alert the next morning. Meh. To hell with it. Bad dreams made him cranky and it was Xerxes.
And so.
“Yes,” Liam announced. ”Yes, I would like a snuggle.”
“Oh,” replied Break flatly. He hadn’t been expecting that. Then Liam heard him shrug. “Well, you’ll have to come over here, then.”
“Why can’t you come over here?” Liam asked. Contrary.
“Because it’s cold. There is nothing that will get me to leave this bed when it’s this cold.”
“I can think of a few things.” Liam slid out of his own bed — it was cold, couldn’t blame him really — and crossed the room, bringing his own pillow as an afterthought. “If a blood vessel in my brain were to suddenly explode, for instance.”
“If a blood vessel in your brain were to suddenly explode there would be nothing I could do about it,” Break said reasonably. He scooted to the side and lifted the covers just enough for Liam to join him. Then he rolled over. “I would leave you where you were and deal with it in the morning.”
“You wouldn’t even check to see if I was really dead?”
“I might be bothered to throw a shoe at you. See if you make any noise when it connects.”
“If you ever throw a shoe at me in the middle of the night I’ll treat it as concern for my well-being, then.”
“See? You understand how I express affection. Also you need to stop reading medical journals before bed.”
“Hn.” Liam had always cuddled against Break’s back before, head nestled between his shoulder blades. But the last time he’d snuggled up to Break after a nightmare — or for the hell of it, some days — Liam had been a whole lot smaller. What a conundrum. He scooted down in the bed and curled up. Break helpfully pulled himself into a ball so Liam could scoot closer without digging his knees into the other man, but Liam liked to be stretched out when he slept and trying even a little put his feet over the edge of the bed. Break was still as thin as he’d always been, too, and Liam’s shoulders were much broader now that he was an adult, and there was nowhere to put his arm but over Break’s hip. And that…yeah, no.
After another ten seconds of futile shuffling, Liam gave up and muttered, “This isn’t going to work.”
Break snickered and turned to shove at his shoulder. “It’s your fault for getting so tall. Roll over, we’ll have to flip-flop it.”
That worked. In short order, Liam was stretched out to his full height and Break was tucked in against his back. It was different, and new, but familiar all the same, having Xerxes close like this. If Sharon were there it would have been just like the old days, except they were old enough now for that to really be improper. Not that the three of them had ever tended to mind that in the first place, when it had just been them.
Liam had the feeling that they all wanted to go back to those days, even if none of them would admit it. Sharon still looked at him like she missed him sometimes, and Break had latched onto him at Pandora almost immediately, and Lady Cheryl had kept his room for him at Rainsworth so he could visit and it would just be so easy.
But there was too much to do, now. For all of them.
He contented himself with remembering the way things had been once, when he’d been the one dozing at Break’s back and not the other way around. It made it easy to move past the dream. Before long, he was asleep again.
Morning found the two of them in a bit of a disgruntled tangle, having rolled around on each other all night. Break, naturally, had managed to maneuver himself so that Liam woke up with a mouth and nose full of white hair. When Liam shoved him off and slipped out of bed, Break made a deeply offended whining noise and slithered into the warm spot he’d left behind.
“If you don’t get up now you’re probably going to miss breakfast,” Liam told him mildly.
“Mmph,” said Break firmly. The lone red eye glared at him from under the covers for a moment before it shut and he burrowed into his newly acquired pillow nest. Xerxes Break, out of bed at dawn? Balderdash.
“I’m not saving you anything,” said Liam, and he proceeded to go downstairs and save a couple of muffins for him because Break was Break and Liam was Liam and that was how they did things. Break thanked him later by throwing a shoe at him in the middle of the night.
Rating: G
Disclaimer: I no can has. :C
Summary: Just a bit of fluff I snuck in today. Fluff with some ill-fated foreshadowy lines, given current circumstances -- meh. Anyway you can read it as friendship or blossoming luuuurve as you please. Set somewhere in the 5 or so years right before Oz returns, and references my snuggly little early!Rainsworth headcanon.
Length: 1,387
Liam woke with a start, and his first thought was that the bed he was in was not his own; his second was that he’d just had one of his rare nightmares and his third was that now he wasn’t going to be well-rested for the Pandora business the following morning. Things clicked back into place after that — the unfamiliar ceiling was that of the inn his group was staying in, which was also why his bed was smaller than usual and not so comfy, and the rustling off in the other bed to his left was Xerxes Break.
Of course his roommate for the trip was Xerxes Break. When the issue had come up he had been cheerfully open about how he just couldn’t let poor Liam suffer these nights away from home without his comforting presence. Liam let him get away with it because he knew there was no way in hell Xerxes was letting a random acquaintance from work in the same room with him as he slept. If forced he’d probably just stay up all night and pretend he hadn’t, and then he’d be disagreeable and surly all the next day and make everybody miserable, which was honestly alright with Liam because on some level he’d prefer that over Break actually sleeping when there was a veritable stranger in such close quarters with him, and anyway that was the thing with Xerxes; if you were going to take proper care of him you had to keep him close and gods knew he needed looking after because he was a great big moron who ate cupcakes for dinner and — bah. Stupid Xerxes.
The usual foul mood that came after a nightmare was settling in and even thinking about these things was annoying him to no end. All the same, he turned to squint at Break, hoping he hadn’t woken him. He had, of course. He couldn’t see Break’s face without his glasses, but he was definitely sitting up, just enough to stare back at Liam.
In his defense, Break was a light sleeper.
“Are you alright?” Break asked softly.
“I’m okay,” Liam answered. “Just a bad dream.”
“You still have those?”
“Occasionally. Not very often. I still don’t ever remember them.”
“Mm.” Another rustle as Break stretched; then he drawled snidely, “Would little Noisy-kins like a snuggle?”
Liam huffed. They hadn’t snuggled in years, but naturally Liam, aged twelve and three-quarters at the time, had only needed to seek Break out in the middle of the night once — because it had been obvious from the start that what he had gone through had to be far worse than any nightmare Liam’s mind could come up with and that meant he’d definitely be safe with him — for Break to hold it over his head for the rest of his life. But Break could have just turned him out instead of always being there when Liam needed him so that one was his fault; and no matter how much he would have liked the comfort he was far too old to crawl into bed with him now, though it wasn’t like Break would care about that, or tell anyone, and he’d had nightmares with Xerxes around and nightmares without him and he definitely recovered faster with the company, and he needed to be alert the next morning. Meh. To hell with it. Bad dreams made him cranky and it was Xerxes.
And so.
“Yes,” Liam announced. ”Yes, I would like a snuggle.”
“Oh,” replied Break flatly. He hadn’t been expecting that. Then Liam heard him shrug. “Well, you’ll have to come over here, then.”
“Why can’t you come over here?” Liam asked. Contrary.
“Because it’s cold. There is nothing that will get me to leave this bed when it’s this cold.”
“I can think of a few things.” Liam slid out of his own bed — it was cold, couldn’t blame him really — and crossed the room, bringing his own pillow as an afterthought. “If a blood vessel in my brain were to suddenly explode, for instance.”
“If a blood vessel in your brain were to suddenly explode there would be nothing I could do about it,” Break said reasonably. He scooted to the side and lifted the covers just enough for Liam to join him. Then he rolled over. “I would leave you where you were and deal with it in the morning.”
“You wouldn’t even check to see if I was really dead?”
“I might be bothered to throw a shoe at you. See if you make any noise when it connects.”
“If you ever throw a shoe at me in the middle of the night I’ll treat it as concern for my well-being, then.”
“See? You understand how I express affection. Also you need to stop reading medical journals before bed.”
“Hn.” Liam had always cuddled against Break’s back before, head nestled between his shoulder blades. But the last time he’d snuggled up to Break after a nightmare — or for the hell of it, some days — Liam had been a whole lot smaller. What a conundrum. He scooted down in the bed and curled up. Break helpfully pulled himself into a ball so Liam could scoot closer without digging his knees into the other man, but Liam liked to be stretched out when he slept and trying even a little put his feet over the edge of the bed. Break was still as thin as he’d always been, too, and Liam’s shoulders were much broader now that he was an adult, and there was nowhere to put his arm but over Break’s hip. And that…yeah, no.
After another ten seconds of futile shuffling, Liam gave up and muttered, “This isn’t going to work.”
Break snickered and turned to shove at his shoulder. “It’s your fault for getting so tall. Roll over, we’ll have to flip-flop it.”
That worked. In short order, Liam was stretched out to his full height and Break was tucked in against his back. It was different, and new, but familiar all the same, having Xerxes close like this. If Sharon were there it would have been just like the old days, except they were old enough now for that to really be improper. Not that the three of them had ever tended to mind that in the first place, when it had just been them.
Liam had the feeling that they all wanted to go back to those days, even if none of them would admit it. Sharon still looked at him like she missed him sometimes, and Break had latched onto him at Pandora almost immediately, and Lady Cheryl had kept his room for him at Rainsworth so he could visit and it would just be so easy.
But there was too much to do, now. For all of them.
He contented himself with remembering the way things had been once, when he’d been the one dozing at Break’s back and not the other way around. It made it easy to move past the dream. Before long, he was asleep again.
Morning found the two of them in a bit of a disgruntled tangle, having rolled around on each other all night. Break, naturally, had managed to maneuver himself so that Liam woke up with a mouth and nose full of white hair. When Liam shoved him off and slipped out of bed, Break made a deeply offended whining noise and slithered into the warm spot he’d left behind.
“If you don’t get up now you’re probably going to miss breakfast,” Liam told him mildly.
“Mmph,” said Break firmly. The lone red eye glared at him from under the covers for a moment before it shut and he burrowed into his newly acquired pillow nest. Xerxes Break, out of bed at dawn? Balderdash.
“I’m not saving you anything,” said Liam, and he proceeded to go downstairs and save a couple of muffins for him because Break was Break and Liam was Liam and that was how they did things. Break thanked him later by throwing a shoe at him in the middle of the night.
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"great big moron who ate cupcakes for dinner" lol!
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I thought I was doing pretty well with not worrying about how things are going to turn out, but yes, the foreshadowing in this made made me wince and worry all over again. Waaaah, Liam!! D:
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snugglefluff and shoe throwing. What a great bed time story o/no subject
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