Bonus Drabbles

[tygati]

Because maderr is bad for my brain. ^_____^

Tangles

"I swear I'm going to cut it all off," Beldon grumbled, shoving messy, tangled strands of dark green hair out of his face. "Maybe then I could get a little respect."

Smiling warmly, well used to his lover's rants and tantrums, Herb simply picked up an expensively decorated hairbrush and started following the Enchanter in his pacings around the room. "I like your hair. Hold still."

Beldon stopped and whirled on him, blue eyes flashing gold in warning. "Don't patronize me."

"I'm not patronizing you." Herb ran the hand not holding the brush over Beldon's face, loving the silken feel of the man's skin. "I like your hair. And you. Preferably spread out all over me, but for now I'll settle for you sitting in a chair and me brushing out the tangles that you're complaining about and not doing anything to fix."

Beldon scowled and crossed his arms. "And whose fault is it that my hair gets so full of tangles at night?" he demanded sourly.

Laughing, Herb pressed a brief kiss to the Enchanter's lips. "Told you I liked your hair. Now sit."

Sullenly, with the air of someone who really doesn't want to capitulate, Beldon lowered himself into the small sitting room chair. Herb stepped around behind him and began slowly running the brush through the dark strands, working his way up from the bottom and taking his time so as not to pull too much. It was soothing, for both of them really, and Beldon never failed to lean into the touch to the point where Herb had to put an arm out for Beldon to lean on lest he fall over.

By the time the entire mass was smooth and straight and free of tangles, Beldon was fairly purring in pleasure and his eyes had gone quite dark as they looked up slowly at Herb. "Braid."

Laughing quietly, Herb did as requested, twining the dark strands into a simple braid, just finishing tying off the end when Beldon promptly jumped him.

Which was just one more reason he loved Beldon's hair. Getting it brushed never failed to make Beldon horny.

from Beauty and the Beast


Respecting Your Superiors

Jayce punched futilely at a few more buttons, then threw his hands up in exasperation. "I give up. That stars-damned Gremlin's got the entire propulsion and navigation systems locked down tighter than a Kreskan's virginity." He scowled darkly and swiveled in his seat to regard Ekaitz. "What now, oh noble Captain?"

Rubbing at his temples, Ekaitz looked around the bridge at the faces assembled there. Meiki and Jayce at their consoles, Dralikkzion sitting on the floor nearby and looking rather sleepy, Q'inn pacing back and forth, tail lashing furiously. Most of the others were in the engine room, trying to help Irinar figure out what Tau Ceti had done, with the exception of Sigma who was in the workshop trying to get his lover to calm down.

Not likely, Ekaitz thought sourly, leaning back heavily in his chair and starting as something started firmly massaging his shoulders. He looked up, finding Jei standing just behind his chair, a ghost of a smile on the Avarri's face. "You didn't come back to bed, so I figured I'd come to you," he explained.

Mirroring the smile, Ekaitz forced himself to return his attention to the problem at hand. "Jayce, Meiki... whichever one of you has communications..." He winced as he checked the chrono, then sighed. "Better get the High Chancellor."

Q'inn ceased his pacing to shoot Ekaitz a look of disbelief, but the two bridge officers simply echoed the wince and turned back to their consoles. It was an extremely long five minutes of waiting and agonizing before finally Meiki's voice called out softly, "Got him."

The main screen flickered to life as it had done so many times before, displaying an image that was both familiar and anything but. It was obvious that their call had awoken the High Chancellor from his night's sleep, as his hair was completely disarrayed, he didn't seem to be entirely conscious, and he was wearing nothing more than a simple pair of drawstring pants that appeared to be about to slide off his hips at any moment.

Dead silence ensued, during which Kavalerov rubbed tiredly at his face. "Captain Kai?"

The silence continued as Ekaitz struggled to figure out what he was supposed to be saying and not let his eyes stray to those pants, finally being broken by, predictably, Meiki.

"Ohhh... yummy..." the Draconis breathed, staring up at the screen. "We need to wake him up more often..."

Kavalerov blinked, looking slightly more awake than he had moments ago and arching a pale brow. "Meiki..."

He didn't get much further before Q'inn stalked across the bridge to prod Meiki's shoulder. "Make sure you record this for later," the Hellcat ordered. "Way better than pornos for jacking off to." He licked his lips and smirked up at the screen.

Ekaitz promptly choked, and from the way Jei's hands tightened on his shoulders, he knew he wasn't the only one who couldn't believe that their security officer had actually said that, aloud, in front of the High Chancellor. He buried his face in his hands and started running through every formal apology he knew, trying to figure out if any of them came even close to this situation.

"High Chancellor-" he started, only to get interrupted by Dralikkzion.

"What I really want to know is, why is that man single when he looks like that?" the Fornarian demanded, openly leering. "He should have a harem. I'd be in it."

"Me too," Jayce and Meiki added in unison.

Q'inn smirked and licked his lips again, tail swishing sensually. "I'd start it," the Hellcat purred.

Completely ignoring his drooling fanclub, Kavalerov's pale blue gaze fixed calmly on Ekaitz. "I assume you did have a reason for waking me in the middle of the night, Captain?"

Wincing, Ekaitz nodded. "Ah, the Ice Princess is currently on a direct course for Zero, courtesy of a certain Engineer who has locked out all our systems so that I can't override. Apparently an alarm he left in his workshop there went off and he's determined to go throttle whoever's trying to break in..." He spread his hands helplessly. "And none of us are capable of convincing him otherwise."

"I dunno," Jayce murmured, "Maybe we should just let him take us to Zero. Can't fault the eye candy..."

Meiki practically bounced in his seat. "Oooh... I didn't think of that!" He waved cheerfully up at the High Chancellor. "Never mind, Princess. We'll just come say hi in a few hours!" He beamed.

Kavalerov pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed quietly. "One of you please patch me through to Tau's workshop. I assume that's where he is."

"Aww... you don't want company?" Meiki said sadly, drooping.

Q'inn's arms wrapped around him from behind. "I'll keep you company," he purred.

"Jayce," Ekaitz sighed, "Please transfer the High Chancellor so we can get control of our ship back."

"But then we lose the eyecandy," Jayce protested, seconded by nods and murmurs from the rest of the crew. Ekaitz contemplated hitting his head against something and shot the High Chancellor an apologetic look.

"Oh, hey..." Meiki sat up straight again. "Didn't Tau Ceti practically grow up with the Princess? You think he rigged any cameras...?"

Heads swiveled to stare at him, more than one set of eyes gleaming. Q'inn licked his lips again. "Maybe once the Gremlin calms down we can convince him to set something up in the shower..."

"I like this idea," Zion murmured, smirking and running one hand slowly down his chest to lightly brush across the noticeable bulge in his pants. "Think he can be bribed?"

"Jayce." Ekaitz grit his teeth. "Transfer the High Chancellor to Tau Ceti's workshop. Now."

With a deep sigh of disappointment, Jayce complied. The half-naked, sleep-tousled image of Chancellor Kavalerov vanished.

"At least we got video saved," Meiki said mournfully.

Ekaitz took a deep breath and counted to ten before activating the intercom system. "Fe'yiv, I want you on the bridge. The problem is being dealt with." He closed the connection and glared at his unrepentant officers. "The rest of you, take yourselves somewhere else before I decide to strangle you."

Exchanging near-matching snickers and grins, the culprits removed themselves from his presence before Ekaitz's temper snapped completely. When they were gone he leaned back in his chair and sighed quietly.

"That was... strange..." Jei observed, resuming his gentle massage.

"Kavalerov is going to kill us," Ekaitz stated flatly. "How that bunch of lunatics ever got hired in the first place is beyond me."

Jei considered. "The High Chancellor doesn't seem the type to drink, so we can't blame it on him being out of it at the time..."

"I'm blaming it on Tau Ceti," Ekaitz muttered, leaning back into Jei's touch as far as the chair would allow. "As far as I'm concerned, everything in the universe that defies logic is somehow his fault."

Jei laughed.

from Courting the Ice Princess