Work Text:
“Ninaaaa, you’ve been working all daaaay,” Stu whined in the most pitiful voice he could muster as he lay across her bed. It was his idea to want to come to her house, thinking that it’d be more interesting than being cooped up inside the shelter, but he was sorely mistaken. Nina typed away on her laptop, the clicking of each keyboard stroke ever grating on Stu’s ears.
“Not my fault Noodle got overstimulated, had a meltdown in a mall, and people decided to post it online. It’s my job to clean up Strayz’s mess and that’s what I plan on doing.” Nina spoke without glancing at Stu, only pausing in her typing to push up her glasses. Stu had no idea that she wore glasses until today. They were regular black metal rectangular frames and Stu knew there was nothing special about them but seeing Nina wear them while she looked so concentrated made her look hotter than usual. Stu sat up and eyed her. Nina sat with her legs outstretched with her laptop sitting on a foldable bed table. It crossed Stu’s mind to wonder how often Nina works in her bed for her to need to have a bedtable. His eyes wandered down from her face to her chest, where he noticed a star pendant hanging from her necklace.
“You know Muds likes stars.”
“Oh, does he now?”
“Yeah. He has a bunch of earrings and necklaces with different ones. It’s crazy ‘cause I didn’t think stars could come in variety but they can. Maybe you an’ he should show off your jewelry to each other.”
Nina scoffed, “Hard pass.”
“Aww come on. He’s not as bad as you think he is.”
“Oh no, I don’t think he’s bad. No person is truly bad. I just think,” Nina paused in her typing and looked at Stu, who was staring at her like a lost puppy. She couldn’t bring herself to say how she felt that Murdoc hated her. “That Murdoc and I don’t click.” She saw dejection written on Stu’s face as the words came out of her mouth and quickly waved her hands in front of her, “But who knows! Maybe sharing an interest in stars will bring us together. Maybe I can find a star necklace that he doesn’t have and gift it to him.”
“That’s the spirit. Even a grump like him can’t turn down free jewelry.”
As Nina went back to work Stu’s eyes wandered down her body and over her legs. He didn’t know how but Nina’s skin felt as if it was the softest that he had ever touched. He knew her to be a frugal person so he had to wonder what kind of lotion she was using to achieve that. Without even thinking he caressed her leg. He glanced up to see if this bothered her but she continued typing. He ran his hand down her leg until he reached her ankle. This was probably the first time that he took a hard look at her feet but now that he was looking at them he noticed that her toenails were painted in multiple neon colors. He let out a laugh.
“Your toes are cute.”
“Thank you,” Nina said cheerfully, “I painted them myself.”
“You chose an amazing color palette. Shame that they’re always hidden in your boots.”
“Hey, I like what I like, but now you know my secret.”
The room fell back into the, now familiar sound, of the clicking from the keyboard. Stu drew circles along the top of Nina’s foot with his nail, causing her foot to twitch. Then he let his finger slide to the sole of her foot and graze along it. The clicking sound stopped and a chuckle was heard. Stu smirked and continued moving his finger up and down, causing more chuckles to come out from Nina. Suddenly Stu grabbed hold of Nina’s ankle with one hand and started tickling her foot with the other. Nina flailed as she howled in laughter with Stu laughing along with her. Nina kicked at his hand with her other foot but to no avail, as Stu tightened his grip and continued.
“Stu! Stu, I can’t breathe. Stop!”
Stu let go of her ankle, watching Nina try to recompose herself. She took her glasses off, moved her bed table to the side, and smoothed down her dress before she rolled her eyes at Stu.
“You have my attention now. What do you want?”
Stu crawled over into her lap and kissed her on the lips, “I think you know.”
Nina kissed him back, tracing the side of his neck with a fingernail, “You’re so bad for disturbing me for that.”
Stu closed his eyes and tilted his head to the side, “You gonna punish me?”
Nina leaned forward to bite the crook of his neck, causing Stu to let out a hiss, and kissed and sucked on the spot. When she was finished she let go and smirked, “With pleasure.”
They lay in bed, clothes long since forgotten, with Stu’s head resting on Nina’s chest as he lay on top of her. She idly toyed with his hair, twirling it around her finger, as he listened to her heartbeat. He always liked the sound of heartbeats. It was one of the few things that wasn’t a drug that calmed him down. It also helped that Nina always had a pleasant scent. It was never overwhelming. Stu closed his eyes and hummed.
“You always smell nice.”
“Thanks. I’m glad you like it.”
They went back to quietly enjoying each other’s presence. Stu knew Nina had work to get back to but he thought she worked too hard today and, if she really wanted to, she could easily shove him off and get back to it but no, she didn’t. Stu let a lazy smile come across his face. She worked too hard; she deserved to take a break.