Archive of Our Own

Dys watched his breath come in misty puffs, blue in the glow of his holopalm. Being as cold as he was, it was a monumental effort for his almost-numb fingers to type even a single sentence. And it was especially hard to work with Rex whining nervously like the most annoying kettle in the universe. It had been a mistake to take him on an expedition, Sol’s endorsements be damned. Rex was too sweet for all of this. He should be lying in his damn hammock snogging the face off of one of his lovers, not out here in the dangerous wilds of Vertumna.

They had picked the plains because they were safe. No glider skills or navigational competence required. No danger of getting eaten by a manticore. But no, they just had to get caught in the worst snowstorm Dys had ever seen. It had hardly taken a minute before the cave they had sheltered in was too blocked-off to leave.

“We’re totally gonna die,” Rex was whimpering. “We are so going to die in here. We’re gonna starve to death. I’m never gonna see Nomi again—Oh, stars, oh stars…”

Gritting his teeth, Dys wrote a curt message to Utopia about their situation, then sent it off.

Within only a few seconds, she responded, !!!!. Then, a little more articulately: Will send rescue team after storm. Visibility too low. Shelter in place, keep an eye on Rex. This was followed shortly by an image of a thumbs-up gesture.

Dys exhaled heavily, sending a cloud of steam spilling into the air. “Utopia’s going to come get us after the storm,” he relayed. “The visibility’s too low to send out a rescue team at the moment. My guess is that we’ll spend the night in here. Maybe a few days, if we’re unlucky.”

Rex whimpered. He curled up even more. In his ridiculously puffy, neon-orange jacket which he had borrowed from the public gear box, he looked like a nacho cheese marshmallow. This was a real thing that Sol had tried to make once, and it was as horrible as it sounded. The memory of the taste did nothing to improve Dys’s mood.

“Are we going to starve?” Rex whispered tearily.

“No. I have enough rations for two weeks.”

“Wh-what about if we freeze?” He visibly shivered, as if talking about it made him any colder. “It doesn’t matter if we’ve got enough food if we’re both popsicles by morning!”

“I’ll start a fire.”

Rex rocked himself back and forth, squeezing his eyes shut. Dys didn’t understand that. Sure, he understood the concept of fear, but, really, they were fine.

Rolling his eyes, he knelt on the floor and got out his firestarter kit. He had to tear up a washcloth for the initial fuel, but he thought that was a reasonable price to pay. As the fire smouldered and flickered to life, Dys piled on a few more spare pieces of fabric he’d found, then wandered off to pick some mushrooms he’d seen earlier.

There were all kinds of mushrooms growing on the cave walls, and Dys picked out the few species he thought would work the best for fuel. There were quite a few woody varieties, probably related to mushtrees.

From behind him, Rex whined, “Noooo, please don’t tell me we’re eating mushrooms!”

In frustration, Dys bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. “I just told you that I have enough rations for two weeks. If you had a single goddamn brain cell, you would have remembered that.”

“What the hell is your problem? We’re trapped in a cave in the middle of a snowstorm. Of course I’m a little frazzled! Not everyone can be all confident all the time, y’know. Jeez.”

“When you’re outside the colony, you can’t just sit around being frazzled. If it weren’t for me, you’d have frostbite by the time Utopia dug you out of here. For fuck’s sake, Rex.”

“Well, I’d help if you would let me,” Rex snapped.

“I’m not sure if you helping would make things better or worse. Because, again, you know jack shit about anything out here, and you apparently don’t even have the common sense to make up for it.”

“You’re the leader, though. Aren’t you supposed to make sure everything’s okay?”

“In case you forgot, it’s your fault that we’re even in here!” Dys rounded on Rex with a huff. “I told you that you shouldn’t be wandering too far from the basecamp. I told you that we should turn around when it started snowing. If you’d just listened to me, at any point, we’d have gotten back to the autobus depot hours before the weather got rough. But you didn’t! You thought you were so tough, that you, the newbie who has literally never been outside the colony before, knew everything. And now you’re sitting here, whining at me, while I do all the work. Honestly, go fuck yourself Rex.”

Rex recoiled, ears pinning back against his head. Those big, wet, puppydog eyes of his momentarily dampened Dys’s anger. He was still mad as shit, but it was enough to make him consider that he could have been more gentle.

Dys sighed, squeezing his eyes shut. “Sorry. Look, I know you meant well, but you’re doing exactly the opposite of helping right now, and your whining is giving me a headache. If you could just calm down for, like, a second, that would be really helpful.”

“Okay.” Rex perked up, just barely. “Um. I-I’m sorry. I’m just really scared, you know?”

Dys didn’t know. He didn’t understand why people acted so irrationally when they were afraid. Whining and crying and panicking was incredibly counterintuitive to their survival.

“It… It’s okay,” Dys managed.

He took the mushrooms back to the fire, carefully piling on a few in just such a way that they would catch fire, but not smother the small flame. He blew on them gently. As the mushrooms caught fire, they hissed and crackled, sending off sparks into the air. The general damp of the cave had permeated through them, but not enough that they couldn’t be used as firewood.

When he looked up, he noticed that Rex had rested his face on the heels of his hands, and was watching the fire with wonder. No, he was watching Dys. The firelight flickered in his wide eyes, one blue, one brown. He was worrying his lip gently with his teeth, and he smiled slightly when Dys caught his gaze.

Dys looked away. Rex’s eye contact was way too intense. It felt like he was staring into Dys’s thoughts.

Immediately searching for a way out of the situation, Dys stammered, “I-I think I hear water farther back in the cave. I’ll go take a look.”

He stood up and walked away brusquely.

“Can I do something?” Rex called after him.

“Make sure the fire doesn’t go out. And don’t burn yourself.”

Opening his holopalm for light, Dys walked into the back of the cave. He did hear the soft rush of water coming from somewhere. It took him a while to locate the source in the darkness, but he did eventually stumble upon it. A small rivulet of water dribbled out of a crack in the rock, flowing along a channel in the floor and disappearing back into the darkness.

Dys did some cursory water tests, finding that it didn’t have any particularly dangerous levels of anything, and set out his cookpot to catch some to boil later. The flow was tiny, so it would take a while to fill up.

He wandered back to Rex, noticing the glow of the fire as he approached. When Rex saw him, he looked up and smiled. Dys didn’t understand that at all. Hadn’t they just been arguing? Why the hell would Rex be happy that Dys was back?

“Uh…Good job,” Dys said. “You kept the fire going. That’s… good.”

Rex beamed. His ears perked up, and Dys got the feeling that if he’d had a tail, it would be wagging. It was actually kind of cute, not that Dys wanted to admit that to himself. He wasn’t quite done being mad.

Dys sat down again, sticking his hands out to warm them by the fire. It was steady and hot by now. He thought the cave might even be getting warmer. Snow was a good insulator, after all.

He was ready to settle in and stare at the fire for a few hours, but Rex was already squirming.

“Need something?” Dys asked. Rex was a member of his crew, after all, and therefore his responsibility.

“I’m still scared,” Rex admitted. “Can we… can we talk, or something? Not that you have to but… it just makes me feel better.”

Clearly, Dys thought

He said, “Is there anything to talk about?”

Rex shrugged. “Well, for starters, maybe you could tell me about yourself? I mean, I know a little bit, of course, a-and what Sol tells me, but I… I don’t know much else about you, if I’m being honest.”

If Dys had a least favourite conversation subject, it was this one. Still, for Rex’s sake, he wanted to at least try. He could just steer the conversation away from himself, right?

“What do you want to know?”

“You know, just basic stuff.” Rex rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. “What’s your favourite colour? What’s your favourite food? A-are you single? That sort of thing.”

“Black, tofu, and yes,” Dys replied bluntly.

Rex looked stunned. Dys expected to get some admonishment for being so curt, but Rex just said, “But you’re so pretty.”

Dys’s brain chewed on that statement for a solid thirty seconds. Then, his face flushed red and his stomach started doing somersaults. He fidgeted with a buckle on his shirt in an attempt to do something with his hands.

“Sorry, sorry,” Rex blurted. “I just say shit without thinking, sometimes, I’m so sorry, if you’re uncomfortable, I can just—”

“No. I, uh… that’s okay. Thanks.”

Rex’s whole posture melted into relaxation again, his face splitting into a toothy grin. “Do you want me to say more?”

Dys shook his head automatically. A part of him lurched in regret. As much as he told Sol off for it, he liked when people said nice things about him. He liked attention. But it also made his stomach writhe until it hurt, and one time, he had gotten so freaked out that he had clenched his muscles too hard and given himself the most wicked calf cramps. That, and the guilt, of course. Despite how Sol tried to reassure him, he still couldn’t help the feeling that he didn’t deserve kindness. So, he did like attention, but also, he really didn’t.

Rex just nodded in acknowledgement, said, “Okay,” then moved on to asking, “What about you and Sol?”

Dys felt his heart rate spike. “What about me and Sol?”

“Oh, just, you know… I wanted to know what your deal was. Since, um… I’m kinda involved with them? Like, casually and stuff, but, y’know…”

Rex trailed off with a tiny half-laugh.

Dys took a deep breath. He knew about Rex and Sol. Of course he did. Sol was his best friend, after all. Still, he didn’t like to talk about it. Even if half the colony was involved with Rex, even if it was casual, it still made him viciously jealous. Still, this might be his opportunity to get some more information…

“We’re best friends,” Dys confirmed, trying and failing to keep his smugness out of his voice. “We’re not dating, though. Just friends.”

“Cool, cool. So… judging by how you look like you’re about to have a heart attack, you’re, uh, not into them seeing other people?”

Dys withered in embarrassment. “I-I can’t just—I can’t tell them what to do.”

“No—that’s not what I’m trying to do here. I just want to know if I’ll have to break up with them when you two start dating. That’s all.”

“Huh?”

“What, you didn’t know?” Rex let out a little laugh. “Baby, it’ll be okay. Just wait and see.”

“Wait, what do you mean—”

More agile than he had thus far proven himself to be, Rex crawled carefully around the fire to silence Dys with a finger on his lips. A squeak almost escaped from Dys’s throat, and he just barely tamped it down. He felt heat spill over his cheeks with his embarrassment.

“Shh,” Rex murmured. “Don’t tell them I told you.”

Dys could do nothing but flee. He scrambled away, bumping into the wall on his way out, and blurting, “I’m going to go check on the water.”

He spent longer than he should have crouched in a dark corner of the cave with his face in his hands. He sort of wanted to cry, but he didn’t want Rex to notice. Sol wanted to date him, and it was everything Dys had ever wanted, but it was also incredibly overwhelming. Also, wait, had Rex called him baby? Thinking about it made his skin prickle, but in a weirdly nice way. He wanted to hear Rex say that again. He wanted it way, way too badly.

Once he had reconciled himself with the forbidden knowledge that Sol liked him back (which was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him), he returned with the nearly-full pot of water. He unfolded a small metal grate from his bag, placing it over the fire and resting the pot on top of it to boil.

“We’ve got water now,” Dys said.

“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.” Rex laughed, showing off his bright white canine teeth. “Literally!”

Rex chattered away as Dys rehydrated and grilled some pieces of tofu for dinner. When they were ready, Rex poured an inordinate amount of sauce over his and wolfed it all down quickly. The burning mushrooms in the fire gave it a smoky, earthy taste that Dys liked on its own, so he ate his tofu with only a few sprinkles of salt.

When Dys next checked his holopalm, it was almost midnight. Time went fast, in a cave.

“Good news,” he said to Rex, “I brought a sleeping bag, so we don’t have to sleep on the cold cave floor. But the bad news is that there’s only one.”

“I don’t mind.”

Dys got the idea that there could have been a suggestive cast to those words, one which Rex was deliberately avoiding. Dys sort of appreciated it, because he had told Rex to cut it out, but it also made him desperately crave more, like how seeing water made him thirsty. He wasn’t sure how to get back to that easy flirtation. Not without directly asking, at least. And he was absolutely not going to ask.

Contemplating how to get Rex to call him nice things again, Dys laid the sleeping bag over the ground. He unzipped it, then looked at the size which they would need to cover with a blanket, and zipped it back up. Even with Rex’s ridiculous jacket, they wouldn’t have enough surface area. They had packed for a light day trip, and it was only as a backup plan that Dys had taken a sleeping bag.

“Guess we’ll have to cram in,” he muttered.

He looked over at Rex, whose eyes went wide at those words. 

“Wow,” he breathed. Then, he giggled. “It’s like something from—from a holonovel.”

Dys got the feeling that Rex had meant to say something else and hastily changed course at the last second, but he couldn’t be bothered to ask. Instead, he said bluntly, “It’s probably better, this way. We can share body heat. Take off that jacket, though—it’ll take up too much space.

Rex obediently took off the jacket, leaving him in almost nothing. Dys couldn’t comprehend how this man walked around with about a quarter of a shirt on, and half of it mesh, at that. Dys would freeze in that sort of outfit. Or he would die of embarrassment. Either way, it was ridiculous that Rex just left his beautifully-sculpted pectorals and slim waist on display. And his smooth, obviously-moistrurized skin. And his biceps!

Rex grinned at him. Dys realized he was staring.

“Sol wouldn’t mind, you know,” Rex said, just a hint of teasing slipping into his voice. ”Really, I think they’d like it if we got along.”

Dys’s brain skittered around between about ten possible responses like a pinball, eventually jamming between, Don’t say shit like that, and, Please please please tell me I’m pretty again.

He ended up making a monumentally embarrassing choking noise, inhaling his own spit wrong in the process, and then bursting into a coughing fit.

Great work, Dys, he thought.

“Sorry,” Rex repeated. “I thought—”

“It's—” Dys went another round of coughing before he could speak. “It's okay. You're right. Sol wouldn't mind.”

Sol had probably never minded anything in the history of ever. When they had caught Dys with the bomb, they had hardly raised an eyebrow in surprise. Even the news of the Strato’s destruction and Kom’s death had been met with a bland shrug. They were close with pretty much everybody, jealous of nobody, and not in any way monogamous. And, more than anything, they wanted Dys to make new friends.

That was the whole point of this excursion, really. Sure, Rex did want some mushwood to make improvements to his bar. But the reason that he had gone with Dys specifically, and not Sol or any other expeditioner, was so that they could get to know each other.

Why was Dys even bothering to hold back? Sol wanted this. He wanted this. Why couldn't he just do it? He couldn't be afraid; he didn't feel fear. Right?

“The real question is,” Rex asked softly, “do you mind?”

Dys swallowed. “I don't mind at all.”

With a wink and a smile, Rex stood and walked over to where Dys was setting up the sleeping bag. He crouched down to Dys’s level. When Rex’s hand made contact with Dys’s shoulder, goosebumps prickled over Dys’s arms. Gently, Rex pushed him backwards; Dys allowed himself to fall onto the soft surface of the sleeping bag.

Rex crawled on top of him, bracing his hands to the sides of Dys’s head. Dys’s heart was hammering against his ribs like a terrified hopeye in a cage.

“I always wanted to get you like this,” Rex murmured. “You have no idea how pretty you are, do you? Oh, you don’t. I see that look.”

Dys’s breath hitched. He squirmed under Rex’s weight; with nowhere else to go, his body seemed to be translating his overflowing emotions into whatever movements it could think of.

“You like that?” Rex asked.

Dys nodded fervently. Rex laughed at him, and it only made Dys’s face get hotter.

“You’re so sweet. You know, I almost thought Sol was wrong about you when I met you. But I see it now. You act all rough and tough, but you’re just a little cutie underneath. Don’t worry, I like my boys complicated.”

He lowered himself, bracing on one forearm and letting his other hand trail up Dys’s neck. Dys shivered. With how close they were, Dys could feel every warm puff of breath from Rex as he spoke. It smelled like mint? Why the hell did it smell like mint? Did he have mints in his pockets? Just for this occasion?

Dys, of course, was immediately distracted when Rex kissed him on the cheek. His throat, independent of his brain, made a small vocalization. Dys was incredibly embarrassed by this. Rex didn’t seem to care, though.

“How about we get all this armor off? Give me some more access, yeah?”

“Please,” Dys choked out.

Rex grinned. At first, he located the clasps to Dys’s neck armor. Leaning close, sticking his tongue out in effort—which Dys thought was adorable—he fidgeted around at the sides of the metal until he managed to undo the buckles. As the cold cave air hit his skin, Dys shivered again. He felt so much more exposed, like he was naked, even though he was really only showing about an inch more skin above his shirt collar.

After that, Rex sat up to begin work on Dys’s gauntlets. He placed the neck armor beside them on the floor, then raised up one of Dys’s hands. Dys jumped when Rex’s fingers made contact with his skin; it was like a zap of static electricity, but much more pleasant. Rex paused, then, looking to Dys for permission to continue.

“Please don’t stop,” Dys begged.

Rex rolled his eyes and laughed, murmuring, “Anything for you, baby.”

Dys bit his lower lip and tried not to move too much. He had a terrible itch to flex his fingers. Rex’s hands were so warm and gentle with him, and it was driving him absolutely insane.

He nearly started crying when Rex moved on to Dys’s other arm without so much as a tiny comment. He wanted Rex to call him pretty again, dammit! He knew this was unfair and a bit egotistical—Dys really did not think he was anything more than average—but he wanted more praise, more kind words in Rex’s soft, husky voice. It had felt so incredibly good.

Once the gauntlets were off, as well as the protective sleeves under them, Rex began to examine Dys’s skin. He traced his fingers along the lines of Dys’s tattoos, the sensation like a trail of sparks. After a while, he even started putting his mouth on Dys’s skin. First, it was just lips, then a tiny bite with his sharp canine teeth. Dys actually yelped.

“You don’t like it?”

Dys shook his head. “No, no, I like it—please keep going, please don’t stop, please.”

With a chuckle, Rex continued. Each little nip sent sparks skittering through Dys’s nerves. Rex nibbled at the tips of Dys’s fingers playfully, and even bit the meat of his palm at one point. Dys was shaking like a leaf throughout it all. He didn’t know how to stop that.

Dys was on the edge of begging when Rex finally said something to him again.

“Man, I’m cold. Here, let’s get under the covers.”

He giggled, kicking his boots off. Dys did the same, albeit with a lot more squirming, contorting, and general writhing, as well as some help from Rex. After that, Rex zipped the sleeping bag up around them.

The tight fabric immediately forced them up against each other. It seemed like Rex was pressed against every inch of Dys’s front, all warm and soft. Dys’s hands found Rex’s lower back, and, before he could think better of it, he took up handfuls of Rex’s exposed skin and squeezed it gently. The texture was impeccable, but the resulting giggle that Rex gave him was even more perfect.

“Didn’t think you were such a flirt,” Rex murmured. His eyes roamed over Dys’s face, quickly focusing on his lips. “You ever kissed anyone, pretty boy?”

“Once,” Dys managed to say. “Technically.”

Rex raised an eyebrow, coaxing the story out of Dys’s mouth.

“It was Sol. We were, like, thirteen. Just kids. It—it was only spin the bottle. No big deal.”

He still couldn’t bring himself to relay the details. Dys had expected a little, childish peck on the mouth, nothing scandalous at all. Nothing that he could be mocked for. Instead, Sol had given him something worthy of a romance holovid. Dys hadn’t been able to look Sol in the eyes for days afterwards. He wanted to chalk all of it up to the pixie beans, of course, but something told him that Sol had done it purely because they wanted to.

“Want to practice?” Rex asked.

Dys felt another wash of adrenaline course through his body. He struggled with his vocal cords for half a minute before just giving up and nodding.

“Don’t worry,” Rex reassured him. “Just copy me and try to relax. Got it?”

“Mhm.”

Rex squirmed around to adjust himself closer to Dys’s face, igniting another wave of prickles on Dys’s skin. Rex put his arms around Dys’s upper back. They were close enough that he barely had to lean in for their lips to meet.

Just like the rest of him, Rex’s mouth was warm and soft. Dys went stiff at first, but relaxed quickly under Rex’s coaxing. He let Rex take the lead, pressing the tip of his tongue against Dys’s mouth and coating them both with his saliva.

“Breathe, baby,” Rex whispered against Dys’s mouth.

Dys realized that he had, in fact, forgotten to breathe. He gasped in a breath, making Rex laugh. It was such a sweet sound.

Rex took a break from kissing while Dys caught his breath. Instead, he nuzzled his face against Dys’s neck. He stroked his hands up and down along Dys’s back, making Dys’s breath hitch. The feeling was fresh and tingly. Dys hadn’t ever had anyone touch him like that before. The most he got was a few hugs from Sym or Sol, but only infrequently. Whenever they asked, they seemed almost afraid of it, like Dys would startle like a jumpy unisaur and bolt. They were right, of course. Dys only managed to fight off his embarrassment and actually hug them about half the time.

There was no running away now. Dys couldn’t bear the thought of it. With how overwhelmed he was, he didn’t know if he’d even be able to find a way out of the sleeping bag. The feeling of Rex’s body against his was intoxicating. It was like taking a drink of cold water after a long day in the Wresting Ridges. Dys craved this. He never wanted it to end.

He was driven to tilt Rex’s face up to his lips and kiss him again like their lives depended on it. This time, Dys couldn’t find the strength of will to restrain himself. He kissed Rex unabashedly and desperately, making noises into his mouth and letting himself gasp openly.  He knew this was incredibly embarrassing, but the sheer volume of feelings had squashed that part of him into the back of his mind. He had Rex’s hands and Rex’s lips, and he needed this more than he wanted to be embarrassed. Rex pressed into it with an eagerness that told Dys that he was just as enthusiastic as Dys was. His hands clenched into fists, pulling on the back of Dys’s shirt.

“That’s it, beautiful,” Rex murmured. “Now you’re getting it.”

Dys made a strangled noise and tried to pull Rex even closer.

“You like it when I call you beautiful?” Rex teased. “Oh, you do. You totally do.”

He broke away from Dys’s mouth to talk, which Dys whined at, but his hands did slip under Dys’s shirt, which he thought made up for it a little. The feeling of his palms against Dys’s bare skin made Dys squirm.

“Y-yeah,” Dys panted.

Rex grinned. “I bet I could go on for ages about you, pretty boy. All those gorgeous muscles of yours are just driving me crazy. Oh, and the sweet button nose…”

At this, Rex kissed the tip of Dys’s nose. Dys’s breath hitched.

“I don’t know how the whole colony isn’t fucking crawling all over you,” Rex continued. “You’re so beautiful and mysterious and cool. I’ve wanted you since—since the first time I saw you with your jacket off.” He let out a little laugh. “And I just thought, ‘Fuck, that’s what you were hiding? Those perfect arms and that killer waist?’ I thought you were the coolest. Still do, actually.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

A sliver of sadness slipped into Dys’s voice. Noticing it, Rex’s eyes went all soft and pitying. He brought his hands up to cup Dys’s face in his palms.

“Aw, baby, I’m sorry. You just scared me, that’s all.”

Dys narrowed his eyes. “What? Why?”

“Well…” Rex dithered for a moment before answering, “You’ve got the absolute worst resting bitch face I’ve ever seen. No offense, of course. But it’s no wonder everybody’s scared to talk to you when you wander around scowling all the time.”

Dys couldn’t help but laugh. Rex giggled right along with him.

“Now I know you’re just a big softie,” Rex chuckled. “I wish I’d talked to you sooner. You’re so fucking cool.”

“Yeah. Me, too.”

Dys meant that with every ounce of his soul. As nice as Sol and Sym were, he was so damn lonely in the colony. He would love another friend, especially one as upfront and happy to be touched as Rex was.

Rex kissed him on the cheek. “I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I… I know you don’t have a lot of friends, baby. I can tell just by touching you—you’re all jumpy and flinchy like you’re not used to it. I hate that. It’s not good for you, you know?”

Dys nodded. “Am I that transparent?”

“Maybe. I’ve got a lot of experience, is all. But I—I want to make you happy. And, fuck, I really love touching you. Can we… maybe keep doing this? After we get out of here, I mean. Fucking hell, I just don’t want to let you go now that I’ve got you, baby.”

Throwing all logic out the window, Dys replied, “Please.”

“Thank you,” Rex breathed.

He kissed Dys solidly on the lips, rubbing his thumbs along Dys’s jaw. Dys shifted around, trying to maximize the contact between them, and pulled Rex closer. He needed as much of Rex as he could get. Rex smiled against Dys’s lips. His hands came down to stroke all along the muscles of Dys’s back. Rex murmured a string of praise and compliments against Dys’s skin, making Dys squirm. Dys couldn’t have dreamed of anything more better or more perfect than this.

They stayed like that all night, sometimes kissing, other times simply laying contentedly together. Their sleeping bag was a little pocket of warmth in the cold cave air. As the fire died down, Dys found that Rex had fallen asleep on his chest. He stroked a hand over Rex’s hair, allowing himself to smile. Then, he drifted off to sleep as well, safe and loved and happy, with Rex in his arms.

* * *

Dys woke up to the shimmery, crunchy sound of shovels in packed snow. He was momentarily disoriented by how warm he was, but quickly remembered that he was with Rex. At that thought, a blush spilled over his cheeks. This was unbelievable.

He managed to squirm out of the tight embrace of the sleeping bag without disturbing Rex, then hopped over the cold ground to his shoes. He could already see a peek of sunlight through the snow blocking the cave entrance. After getting the rest of his armor on, he checked his holopalm. From Utopia’s frantic messages, he gathered that the storm had cleared up early in the morning, and that she had used Dys’s tracker to send a rescue team as soon as possible. Dys found himself a little disappointed; he wouldn’t have minded more time alone with Rex.

Again, he felt his face get warmer. He couldn’t believe himself.

Rex was still insensate on the ground, a small string of drool dribbling from his open mouth and pooling on the ground. Dys was surprised that he didn’t find it disgusting. Actually… it was kind of cute? Rex’s fluffy hair had been mussed up into even more unruly tufts than usual, and his cute little fangs were on full display. He was unfairly adorable.

Dys sat against the wall, shivering in the chilly air. He was thankful for Vertumna’s milder weather; he knew that if he’d been on Earth, he might have gotten frostbite on his ears. But, like this, he was just kind of cold.

He sent off a message to Utopia indicating that he had survived the night. He got a string of punctuation marks in response. While checking his messages, he also noticed that Sol had sent him about twenty very worried texts this morning. Dys repeated that he and Rex were, indeed, alive. He didn’t receive a response.

That did make sense, though, given that he could hear Sol’s voice just outside the cave. They were barking orders at the rest of the rescue team, although very infrequently. Still, it made Dys relax.

He waited patiently, watching the snow. After probably half an hour, there was a final ka-chunk as a shovel broke through the snow. A shaft of light flooded the cave. Dys blinked rapidly at the sudden brightness, and before he could recover his vision, a body had slammed into him and pulled him into a hug.

“You’re okay!” Sol exclaimed. “You scared the shit out of me! What the fuck!”

“Hi?”

Wow, Dys hadn’t ever seen Sol like this before. They were actually shaking with fear. Like, their fingers were trembling and their eyes had gone very wide. Even the sight of a faceless hadn’t phased them, but now, they were terrified. They… they were actually starting to cry? That, at least, wasn’t unusual, but… wow, they were really scared.

Dys put his arms around them, and Sol practically collapsed against him.

“I’m so sorry,” they said. “I shouldn’t have—”

“Don’t be. We’re fine. This was good.”

Sol whined wordlessly and nuzzled closer. “I was so scared.”

“It’s okay. Really. We had plenty of rations and water, and we just spent the night hanging out together. It was… fun, actually.”

Sol looked up at him, their face melting into a grin. “Really? It worked? That’s awesome!”

Other people were infiltrating the cave now, and Dys was suddenly very embarrassed. He stood up, helping Sol up with him. He did shove them off him, though, albeit gently. Sol just smiled.

As they watched a very worried Utopia wake up Rex, Sol said, “You’ll have to tell me about it when we get home.”

They winked. Dys blushed again. Sol really did know almost everything.

“Maybe borrow my jacket, though,” they added.

They took it off, adjusting the collar to… cover Dys’s neck. Oh. He wasn’t sure if he could blush any pinker than he was already, but if he could, then he definitely would have.

“Do you… Is, um, this okay?” Dys whispered.

Sol nodded. “Literally the most perfect outcome I could have asked for. Maybe I should chuck you into a snowstorm with Sym, some time.”

They winked again and nudged him in the side. A smile crept onto Dys’s face, and he sighed.

“Maybe that isn’t such a bad idea. You are right about everything, after all.”

Sol laughed. “You know it.”