Sleeping Beauty

Posted on Thu Dec 17th, 2020 @ 4:07am by Comm Tech Wulf Edevane & Passenger Emma Yonkers

Mission: Ticket To Rhea
Location: Albatross Cargo Pod Three
Timeline: Three Weeks Away From Mars, One Week to Saturn

He'd started doing this a while back, sure that no one really noticed or cared, but focused on those who couldn't do either right now. Those sleeping women, trapped in their little boxes where the Tross' crew's illegal weaponry was supposed to be innocently resting, had been haunting Wulf's dreams since he'd known of their existence. Not in the way women usually featured in his dreams either. No, this was way less fun, but equally as distracting.

Common sense, practicality and the currently breathing occupants of the Tross all demanded that these unconscious ladies remained exactly where they were. Wulf knew this. He understood this. He hated this. But it was fact, and the tech could follow all the very basic and necessary points from A to B. He wasn't, he'd promised Mickey and Ken multiple times, going to wake them up. But Wulf's conscience demanded action of some kind, something that would allow the young man to sleep a little more soundly.

So, the trips down to the cargo bay in the middle of the night had shifted quickly to a more permanent solution. And now, he was curled up in a sleeping bag, pinned gently to the cool floor by a couple of loosely anchored luggage straps across his chest and thighs, safe from the low gee and present just in case. Just in case one of the women woke up like Emma had done. Soft snores unevenly announced his presence as Emma drew closer, but Wulf didn't immediately wake up. A low camping lantern lit the space around him in a 3D halo of warm, pale orange and imbued the small space around him with a tiny amount of ambient heat.

Slowly and quietly Emma drifted into the cargo bay. She had also take up checking on the pods through out the night. Mainly she couldn't sleep because of the nightmares of being trapped in one again. As she drifted in and saw Wulf lightly snoring she looked down on him, and smiled warmly. He was her savior in her eyes. First to be there when she woke and first to talk her down enough to help her. She studied his facial features as she stalled her drift by reach out and gripping a cargo container. She couldn't tell him how much he meant to her. Not that she had ever been good at expressing her emotions on that level.

Quietly she pushed herself so she drifted down and took hold of the cargo strap that was holding him in place. "Wulfy... Why don't you go to your bunk... I'll take watch for you." she whispered in his ear.

Wulf stirred only when the words tickled his ear. He tried to roll over, away from them, but the strap only really allowed him to move his head a little. "Don-wanna," he murmured. "M'guarding." But his brain slowly filtered the feminine quality of that voice, and Emma's proximity to him awakened those base animal senses that caused the tech to open his eyes and blink a couple of times before gazing up at Emma. "Can't sleep in my bunk," Wulf said, simply as he shifted position, sat slowly upright and offered a look of sheepish chagrin to the Marine above him.

"Well now that is just silly." She smiled as she shook her head at him. "I can stand guard for you, and you can sleep in your soft and warm bunk." Emma's fingers ran across his cheek. "I'll help you there and tuck you in, then I'll come and sit here, I'm not sleeping anyways."

Now fully awake and utterly attentive to the Marine's presence, to her touch and to her spoken words, Wulf sat, wide-eyed and stared unashamedly up at Emma. He felt... warmer. A lot warmer than when he'd first awoken and definitely a little uncomfortable, if in a really good way. "I... um... it... you..." For some reason his vocabulary had suddenly vanished. Wulf looked briefly surprised at this vocal failure while blushing hot crimson as his brain rapidly processed the prospect of being tucked in by Emma. "I'd like that," he finally managed to say, but then ruined the decisive nature of said statement by rapidly adding. "Or I could stay here and guard with you?"

With a grin she leaned over and kissed his cheek, "My ever watching guardian angel." She moved to sit so she could pull his head on her lap. "you could just set an alarm to alert you if something was happening to the pods." Emma pointed at the pods locked to the deck with mag locks and straps. "You really are worried about another waking an't you?"

Wulf beamed a big dumb grin as Emma's lips touched his face. He liked the way that sounded too. Guardian Angel. No one had ever called him that before, and as she gently manhandled him, the comm tech just gazed up at the Martian Marine and listened to her talk without really paying attention to the words themselves. He could... what? Something about an alarm? There was a long pause while the tech just closed his eyes and breathed in the reality of his current physical position. He was lying with his face between Emma's legs...

"Worried, yeah," Wulf said, eventually, having a feeling he was missing something important. "I'd rather just be here," he added, and that grin wouldn't go away.

"I understand. I worry about them myself, part of the reasons I can't sleep." Without thinking she was running her fingers through his hair. She was only partially aware what she was doing to poor Wulfy. "Still it is silly to be sleeping here in the cargo bay, it is pretty cold in here."

Those fingers though, catching in the thick tufts of Wulf's hair... That scent, a welcome musk mixed with shower gel and deodorant. Her voice, gently chastising yet caring.

"You can't sleep either?" He asked, opening his eyes and looking up into Emma's face. "It feels warmer right now," Wulf said, quietly and shamelessly.

"No not really, Feels to much of being in there." Emma motioned to the pods before them. Her fingers tangled and pulled lightly in his hair as she talked. "It it getting warmer?" Her voice was gentle and soothing as she looked down at him. "Are you starting got get hypothermia? Do I need to crawl into your bag to warm you back up?"

His gaze tracked hers as Emma indicated the pods and Wulf felt that twist in his guts. Anxiety for those other Marines trapped in what should have been illegal gun running crates. The whole thing was fucked up, and he blamed himself for not being able to decode the encryptions far enough. It really had looked like weaponry... Emma's questions focused his attention back on her though, and Wulf nodded. Puppy dog eyes involuntarily regarded the woman above him and he managed to speak, slowly and quietly. "Yes," Wulf said, his expression coloured with mild guilt and unapologetic anticipation as he added. "Yes. Please."

Rolling her eyes with a smirk Emma slowly pulled the zipper down on his bag. It went so slow it sounded more like clicks of an old analog clock, then the zip it should have made. Dragging it out for a few moments she shifted and wiggled in next to him, her borrowed boxer shorts and tank top, not leaving much to separate them. pulling the sleeping bag's flap up over them she wrapped her arms and body around his.

That lingering anticipation was kinda awesome, and Wulf fidgeted just a little as Emma took her time finding her way into the sleeping bag. By the time Emma wriggled herself into position, the comm tech's face was crimson, his entire body on fire, breath short, heart thumping and every fiber of his being on high alert, buzzed and excited. She was warm, firm and... daaaaaammmnnn. Those arms as they embraced him felt as if they could carry the entire world, and Wulf was overly conscious of every scent, every motion, every tell of his body as he nuzzled in against her. There was the hint of a lopsided grin, closely followed by an unashamed upward reach of his face against hers. Then, with a warm breath, Wulf kissed Emma's cheek.

Feeling his lips on her cheek Emma slowly turned her head and met them with her own. Pulling him tightly against her body, the feeling of his warmth pressed tightly against her, it was the closest thing she felt to alive since she arrived at that terraformer. Squeezing him with a hug she pulled him on top of her and kissed him deeply. She let her hands run and explore his back and body.

Any thoughts beyond that sleeping bag faded completely and Wulf was utterly and happily lost in warm, firm Martian Marine.

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