#labyrithn

“NO, I’M SERIOUS, JOHN! i have a foolproof solution to help you sleep.” it’s late, well past 2 in the morning, and the three of them (can’t forget cota, never forget cota) are currently holed up in an abandoned dorm room. not her old college, not her old dorm, but the memories of it all give joanna a jolt of inspiration that just may help the strange insomniac of a man she’s somehow attached herself to for all of her zombie-killing needs. really, it’s the least she could do.

he opens his mouth, probably to shush her, but jo cuts him off before he gets the chance. “bio lectures. i had this one genetics professor, dr. curtis, and oh man — HIS LECTURES COULD PUT ANYONE TO SLEEP!” she settles back against the wall and inches a little closer to him. “okay! okay, so. we’ll skip syllabus day. just know plagiarism is bad. um. do you know what the central dogma of biology is? pun not intended, cota, don’t look at me like that. it’s this really fancy way of describing the flow of genetic information within our systems.” 

and she’s off, detailing the process of dna replication with grand gestures of her hands and the occasional diagram in the dirt in front of her in a way that dr. curtis could never, until —

charles’s ailing health still looms in the back of his mind  ;   always has,  perhaps always will,  so long as they’re without a new heart for him.   time will keep on  ticking  until they find one,  if  they ever find one,  and  god,  has he tried  !   he has searched relentlessly for a lead,  has tried to pull so many strings   (  as many as he’s allowed in his position  ),  has exhausted himself trying to find a heart in time for this day.   it just didn’t seem to be in the cards.

perhaps it’s not just that he wants  every  morning to be like this one.   he just doesn’t want  this  one to end.

charles passes kaidan the television remote not long after little eli has passed out,  and he idly flips through channels with one hand,  the other settled upon charles’s lap as he eats.   he settles on the local news,  if that’s not an indicator of how  old  the two of them must be  ;   eli would be bored out of his  mind,  he’s certain.   kaidan,  meanwhile,  doesn’t mind watching the same weather forecast three times.

they talk,  idly  ;   they exchange frequent kisses,  kaidan humming every time charles presses one to his lips.   eli sleeps on,  and kaidan again savors the moment he has with charles,  savors the fact that he can both have charles all to himself while still having their child sleep between the both of them.

that  was  delicious,   my  love   —   not  that  that  surprises  me.   but,   i  assume  you  and  eli  have  something  else  up  your  sleeves  that  will  surprise  me.

there’s a knowing look that shines in kaidan’s eyes,  and he can’t help the smile that pulls at his lips.   “  maybe,  ”   he answers,  with an air of mischief about him.   “  like you said  ---  you’ll just have to wait a few hours to find out.  ”   a beat,  before he grows sheepish.   “  whatever  it is,  i,  ah,  hah  ---  i hope you  like  it.  ”

he can’t imagine charles  not  liking it,  naturally  ------  but kaidan won’t deny that one of the gifts he’s prepared may potentially be a little  imperfect,  needed to be desperately saved by his brother - in - law   (  who will  insist,  if asked for his opinion,  that there’s nothing  ‘ imperfect ’  about kaidan’s finished product  ).

wanna  ...   watch  a  movie  ?   you  can  choose.

“  are you sure you want,  ah,  give me this power  ?  ”   kaidan asks,  teasingly  ;   picks up the remote again,  as charles speaks,  starts diving into streaming services for a decent movie to watch.   “  i could choose to put on that  ---  that  despicable  minions  movie,  a - and per our rules you wouldn’t be able to stop me.  ”

he won’t go that far.   he’s going for  hairspray  instead.

i  love  you,   kaidan,   and  i  couldn’t  think  of  a  better  way  to  spend  my  birthday  than  just  staying  in  bed  with  my  two  favorite  people.

>3>)~

This was fun to draw-

“  ----------------------  NAH.  ”   spoken bluntly.   he seats himself across the table from darby,  flips his chair backwards so he can rest his arms across the chair’s back.   “  the hell else am i supposed to do with all these  ?   i dunno  anybody  else that likes these,  you  heathen.  ”   on the other hand,  he  did  buy them.   (  and he obviously bought them for a reason.  )

but coby gets  right  down to the heart of it,  and casey hadn’t really accounted for that,  and it shows  ------  because she doesn’t  answer.   the non - answer,  though,  and the look on her face,  is  telling  enough  ;   for coby is one of the most beautiful people she’s ever met  !   inside and outside.   and she’s terrified of the prospect of ruining a friendship but at the same time she’s crushed hard on zir since the day they met.   

the fact of the matter is that casey’s never felt so comfortable and like  herself  around anyone the way she’s felt around coby.   coby’s just got a sheer brilliance and brightness that makes casey’s heart  sing.

and so all of this  matters  to her.   coby kisses her and casey thinks she might just pass out,  but neither of them are stopping and casey wants more than anything to  keep  going,  going until she’s got zir back against the wall and she’s going crazy over how soft and warm zir lips are and then there’s tongue and their bodies are pressed up against each other and casey makes what she considers to be the most  obscene  noise  ------  then a gasp,  and the reality of it is setting in and casey’s stopped breathing.

“  ho - ly  shit,  ”   she manages out,  and she’s breathless in a way that she feels like her lungs are closing up on her,  and she’s trying not to panic but she’s realized it  far  too  late.   “  this is happening  !   oh my god,  this is happening ------  ”   red - faced,  and she sets her hands on coby’s shoulders to steady herself.

❝   Can  you  not  have  them?   ❞

“i ———— ”

IT TAKES A LOT TO UPSET A BATTLE-HARDENED WARRIOR: a lot, in this case, being a bottle of vodka that she probably shouldn’t have drunk all on her own, and sixty-nine cents in her pocket. 

“i don’t ———— ”