#loshweek21

“Does it rain on Colu?” Lyle mumbles against Querl’s neck, punctuating his sentence with a soft kiss. His face is pressed into the crock of his neck, their bodies close together and limbs entangled in a mess he’s not quite aware enough to pay much attention to now. It’s nice though, Querl’s skin is warm against his and the faint smell of his favourite cheap yet utilitarian soap is a welcome familiarity.

“Occasionally. The weather control system is optimised to prevent undue corrosion and to attain the highest possible level of thermal comfort, but it will allow for short periods of rainfall in order to reintroduce larger quantities of water into the environment. Entirely deconstructing the natural hydrological cycle would be an inefficient use of resources.” While the way his throat vibrates against Lyle’s face feels nice he can’t help but elbow Querl lightly in the ribs, earning a small grunt in return. It’s probably some sign of affection that he goes on his little rants instead of blowing Lyle of or insulting him, as he would had done in the past, but that doesn’t mean that he has to let them slide.

“Yeah, of course.” He presses another kiss to his neck and Querl’s fingers curl up against his back, brushing across his shoulder blades. The tapping above continues. “I used to love the summer rains back home. Jac’s mum used to grow lavender in her garden, and the smell of the rain would mix with it. It was nice.” There’d been many warm summer nights when he’d laid awake on the extra bed in Jac’s room with the room’s large window wide open, overlooking madame Foccart’s garden. Even the rainy nights were rarely all that cold, but on those nights the scent would roll into the room like sweet-scented but invisible clouds.

“Do you miss it?” Querl asks after a while.

“Kinda, yeah. Haven’t really been back all that much since I signed on.” Lyle sighs and tries to stretch his limbs without moving out of the position he’s in, something that Querl to his credit seems to pick up on and adjusts slightly for. “I know you hate being outdoors, but I think you’d like it too. It’s warm, for one. At least during the summer months.”

“Humans have a very terracentric idea of what warm weather entails,” Querl says. “But... if you want me to go with you, I will.” He presses his lips against Lyle’s hair and Lyle’s sure there’s a sheepish smile to accompany it. He can’t help but smile himself, at least

“I do. We’ll just have to find the time for it.” Time seems to be a rare commodity these days. With the Legion you have to take what you can get, even these small moments in the dark rainy night have to be stolen away in dinky hotels during mission downtimes. It’s for the greater good of course, but that doesn’t mean that Lyle doesn’t feel just a little hard done by by it all.

“Indeed though that might be difficult.” He can feel Querl stifle a yawn above him and all of a sudden the hour of the night seems to weigh down on him too, making it hard to even keep his eyes open. It’s already well into the wee hours after all and there’s surely a long day ahead of them.

“Probably,” he mumbles as he starts to untangle himself from Querl. “But that’s a problem for another day, right now we better get some sleep before the sun rises again.”

“Suns, it’s a binary system.”