Work Text:
Superman was working on his console in the Fortress of Solitude. Curled up on top of the console was a creature that looked rather like a lemur, albeit a lilac-colored lemur with huge golden eyes. Its tail wrapped all the way around its body as it blinked its massive luminous eyes at Kal. It looked sleepy, but Kal could hear its thoughts like a purr of static in his brain:
Annoyance//annoyance// (hunger?)// annoyance.
Kal grinned and held out a banana to the slyrrith, which took it with delicate fingers and peeled it carefully.
Annoyance.
"Well, you shouldn't have gone poking around the Fortress on your own, Bruce."
Mmmmbanana//stupid Fortress stupidstupid.
"It's only for 24 hours. The machine is designed to give a limited experience of life as Kryptonian fauna."
A blast of irritation; the slyrrith hopped up and down briefly. Intense disapproval! Agitation! Action necessary home-place home go home!
Kal shook his head as the slyrrith jammed the remainder of the banana in his mouth and chewed furiously, silky lavender fur bristling. Slyrrith were capable of low-level emotional telepathy, but that only meant he knew Bruce was very annoyed and wanted to go back to Gotham to work--which he would have known anyway. Bruce's prickly emotions scratched at his mind like briars, leaving him itching. "You're not going to do much good in Gotham like this, Bruce. Besides, think what would happen if the boys saw you like this."
The golden eyes grew wide. Imagined embarrassment! Mortification//alarm! ...Resignation. The tip of the slyrrith's long tail was twitching madly. He started moving around the Fortress restlessly, bounding from place to place in long, stretching leaps. Fun... The sense of pleasure was faint under the annoyance, but distinct.
Kal let Bruce run circles around the room as he worked. The scratchy irritation faded slowly, replaced by growing tiredness. "Wumph," said Kal as the slyrrith landed abruptly on his shoulder. Huge amber eyes blinked at him.
Affection.
Kal felt a goofy grin spread across his face unbidden, and the lemur-like face scrunched up. Correction--annoyance! Exasperation//frustration//aggravation (warm shoulder warm tired) ANNOYANCE. The slyrrith hunched up on his shoulder, radiating waves of grouchy disapproval.
Kal couldn't help it; he reached up and scratched Bruce behind his round purple ears. "You're cute," he said.
DENIAL. Not-cuteness asserted vehemently! Reality=scary//intimidating//not-cute//SCARY--"
"I didn't mean just as a slyrrith, either."
The creature on his shoulder made a sequence of annoyed chirps. Unfortunately for Bruce, the effect was ruined when the last chirp became a yawn so jaw-breakingly huge it turned into squeak. Little sleepy, came a thought freighted with sheepishness.
"Well, take a nap. You'll be back to human in a dozen hours or so, you might as well be well-rested."
The golden eyes blinked slowly, heavily. Warm. Annoyed. Tired. The irritation was half-hearted now, projected for form's sake. Under it Kal could feel a bedrock of comfort and security. A long, prehensile tail wrapped around his throat, tightly enough that it could have choked a human. Safe here. Rest. Trust. As Bruce drifted into sleep, his emotions blurred and softened, the briars turning to velvet. Affection. Hold on to you won't let go stay with me...hope//hope//wistful hope. Small black paws twitched against Kal's shoulder. Zzz.
Apparently slyrrith tended to snore when they slept.
Kal kept working, letting Bruce's inchoate dreams eddy around him like mist, shot through with trust like sunlight.