[For PanzerSoldat] The Most [UN]Wonderful Time of the Year

[infestedadmiral]

He has felt it coming on for the last few weeks.

The tightness in the limbs on his left side....the random bouts of itching and an inability to get comfortable.

Stukov knows the signs now...an incoming molt is on its way.  He hopes it will hold off until Reinhardt has those Christmas Market shifts he keeps talking about.  It is highly unlikely as those are almost a month away...but a Terran can dream, even an infested one.  There is a deep feeling of dread in his heart.  He is disgusting when he molts-a tangle of peeling reptilian skin, oozing slime and split carapaces.  If he is lucky, it will all be over in a little less than a week.

He hasn't told Reinhardt about it...and he feels a bit like a heel that he hasn't.  There has been no reason to, really as it has not effected them yet and hopefully he could conceal it if he needed to.  It only happened twice a year...that wasn't terribly intrusive, all things considered.

Still....still it was not something he looked forward to.

The itching and tightness are becoming more obvious and one day, on one of the days Reinhardt is scheduled to take leave and spend the next week with him...he starts peeling.  

Well...well <I>CHERT</I>.
 

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[infestedadmiral]

Part of the terror and despair of languishing in Narud's grasp was the knowledge that no one was looking for him. The world thought he was dead. Those that knew him to be alive had seen the Protoss cure work. They had no idea it had ultimately failed.

No one left alive cared enough to look after him. No one was coming to save him. He had been completely and utterly alone.

Neither Terrans nor Zerg were designed to exist that way.

That aching loneliness has not been a part of him for months. It eased when he joined the Swarm...but it never felt right...not like home...not like this does.

His glow is pulsing and warm, orange and yellow. Alexei is content and happy. He smiles and chuckles.

"Tch. You and I both know I would have to order you to sit your ass down for a rest."

He is more on the nose than he realized.

Alexeo sighed.

"Well. All is off that is coming off for now."

He rose slowly from the water, steadying himself on Reinhardt's shoulder. He made no move to cover or conceal anything. He had nothing to hide anymore.

[panzersoldat]

The man is right, of course. The Crusaders has been Reinhardt's life since he had come back to this place. Certainly, he had been born here. Grown up here, but here, there had been no adventure for a wide eyed boy that had wanted to make something amazing of himself. Out there, there had been. He'd gotten his adventure and then some, and now he was back. And back for some time, like he had never left.

Yet even as long as he'd been here now, with his life fully dedicated to the shield wall that protected Neo-Bavaria, he had never found a reason to retire. No wife. No children. No grandchildren. Until Alexei. In this man, he had found someone he could devote himself to just as fiercely as he did this colony. Not only that, he found what he had been lacking. This is the man he wished to grow old with. Alexei had been the adventure he had always looked for.

He shifts away from the tub a bit as Stukov rises. It's hard not to get a good long eyeful. He tires his best not to stare, but that desire for the man burns in that single blue eye. His adam's apple bobs from swallowing his thirst down. He will behave. He promised.

"Looks like." His already deep bass voice seemed to have dropped into the basement, telegraphing his want before he represses it. "A towel." He has to hand it over because he can't trust himself not to touch too much. "Clean wrappings so you don't leak too badly on your sheets." And he'll drain the tub after and decide what to do with the shed. Perhaps it can go into the fire. "I'll come to bed soon as I take care of this and have my own shower." A very cold one.

[infestedadmiral]

The lower tone of Reinhardt's voice makes Alexei's heart jump to his throat. His heart beats a little faster than normal for a few seconds and his extra limbs fluttered.

Did...did Reinhardt's voice just...go deeper?

It had. Obviously it had. A telltale sign of desire aimed at...him?

He'd known Reinhardt was in love with him...but...this was something else...that...was not unwelcome at all just..obnoxiously timed. He had at least two full days of shed left...and another day for his carapace to harden before...attempting anything involving much grabbing was wise. Still...it made the investment that was sitting in the drawer of his bedside table well worth the time, money and...awkward advice asked of the colony's pharmacist.

Alexei smiled to himself and beamed at Reinhardt, glow flickering pink at the thought of his knight feeling genuine desire for him after this...mess.

He gratefully took that towel when it was offered.

"Spasibo.

Stukov carefully dried himself off.

"I look forward to it."

Reihardt was always a source of comfort and Alexei slept much better when his knight was there.

"The shed will shrink once it is dry. Then we can throw it in the garbage or in the fire. Don't worry about it right now."

He smiled and slipped out of the bathroom. Stukov gave a dreamy sigh as he went to check on the zerglings. All three of them were soundly asleep. Hans kicked at something and his lips flared, revealing a gnashing set of sharp teeth. Little darling was dreaming. He returned to the bedroom and sat on the edge of his bed for a moment before pulling the drawer in his bedside table open.

Inside it were several kinds of lubricant and condoms. He had no idea what half of them were. He hadn't needed any such product in almost two decades. Things had changed so much since he'd needed anything like this. He hadn't had a partner since he left Earth...and that was years before he even considered going to the Korprulu Sector with the UED fleet. Then there was his mission to contend with...his infestation...the war in the Void...and now here he was, a little worse for wear, but still in the fight...wit a drawer full of intimacy aids. He had realized he'd never asked if Reinhardt had any allergies like this...he'd never thought he would need to, as ludicrous as that sounded. He loved cuddling. He loved being held and hugged and just being there with his beloved knight. Slowly, he had gone from tensing every time that Reinhardt patted him on the back to loving all those little touches and caresses.

Honestly, until now...he'd not been sure if Reinhardt would...want to...be intimate with someone whose most private, personal parts had been completely remade. He must look like an idiot. A grown man who doesn't have a complete understanding of how his own pleasure worked. Though in his defense...he had not had a lot of time to explore. He certainly was not going to while being studied...and there wasn't any time for it once he joined Kerrigan and the rest of the Zerg Swarm.

It was time to change all that...he'd finally been ready to try...and then his molt had started and his heart had fallen to pieces...but...Reinhardt had picked up those pieces and patched them back together.

Alexei smiled and slid the drawer closed.

Soon.

He'd waited this long.

[panzersoldat]

It had. Alexei will soon learn that one of the biggest tells of Reinhardt's arousal is the deepening of his voice. It's not something he can help. Want just makes his rumbling voice hit the subbasement. Right now, it's very deep indeed. It'll take him a while for it to return to his normal low tone. It helps if he focuses his attention elsewhere.

At least until Alexei is gone. Then he can take things...well in hand. He has to be quick. He wants to join his love in their bed. But he will do as Alexei says and ignore the shed for now. He'll take care of it in the morning. Right now, he has other problems to deal with. Problems that had come directly from looking at the man's naked body.

Reinhardt is much faster with his shower than he normally is. He's also a bit quieter. The house is often filled with the dulcet sounds of Reinhardt Wilhelm breaking 5 different peace treaties by committing the war crime of singing in the shower. Instead, there's just a few quiet grunts and a gasp that hopefully doesn't travel to the bedroom before he's pulling on sleep pants and heading in that direction, desires sated and the evidence of his weakness draining from the tub.

He does pause by the little beds their little ones are sleeping on. He readjusts the little blankets to keep the zerglings warm, lighting patting one that opens it's eyes a little to make sounds at him. "Don't worry...I'm going to take care of your dad. You can rest." Of course later, he might wake to a little patrol of zerglings that had taken it upon themselves to protect their territory while their creator is in such a bad way.

But eventually he'll come to bed, utterly unaware of what hides in the drawer not feet from him as he sits on the edge of the bed. "I know you're soft...but would it be safe for me to...hold your hand at least?" He can't hug Alexei to him like he normally would. It's too dangerous to spoon him, but he likes having contact when they sleep. He thinks holding Alexei's human hand should be safe enough.

[infestedadmiral]

Alexei lay on his back, staring at the ceiling, listening to the running water and noting the absence of his love's loud, earsplitting singing. He doesn't mind it. It is charming. Of course, his ears are no longer human.

When Reinhardt at last comes to bed, Alexei smiles warmly and he gives a soft, wistful sigh.

"Of course."

He immediately reached out his hand for his knight's.

"Anything with human skin is safe to touch."

Hold...kiss...anything like that. His extra limbs flutter when he links their fingers together. Stukov pulls the other man's knuckles to his lips and kisses each one before letting their linked hands rest on his chest, just enough away from any exposed molting.

"I'm...I'm so glad you are here. Thank you...for everything...for helping."

[panzersoldat]

He's glad for that. Reinhardt knows he can't sleep in the same bed as this man without wanting to touch. Needing to. If he couldn't, he would have to go and sleep on the couch, wake up with an ache in the back and a pile of Zerglings on his chest. Not the worst way to wake up, but he hadn't come to the house for the week to sleep with die kinder.

Reinhardt grins and does his best to stay just on that human side. Press against it as much as he can, always snuggling. Making up for those long and lonely nights back at the castle.

His heart flutters at the kiss to his knuckles. "No. Thank you. Thank you for letting me in. Letting me help." He curls against Alexei's human side more. He'll be asleep, snoring in mere seconds. He never sleeps this quickly at the castle.

[infestedadmiral]

Alexei curls back against Reinhardt as best he can. The glow in his eyes and in his skin begins to dim as he becomes sleepy. He can't take his eyes off his beloved knight. Even as he settles in and his eyes flutter, he just watches Reinhardt sleep.

The infested Terran holds fast to his love's hand as he drifts off to sleep, kissing the back of it and holding it to his chest.

It felt as though a tremendous burden had been lifted...that he could truly rest...and that for the first time in a long time, he drifted off into a deep and restful sleep.