hunksmash | prismatica contact

[The hair ruffle earns him a chortle and a shake of her head.]

Good. And sunset's not for a while, so we're good. [For now, anyway. Though she's not particularly worried about it.]

After a couple of months, I started setting an alarm for sunset so I'm not accidentally out when I shouldn't be. And another one for moonrise, but that one's mostly for my own benefit. I've only been out that late a couple of times... and it was fine.

[That's a whole lot of information he wasn't even asking for, but she'd felt the need to explain, so there it was.

Either way, she manages a smile.]

Sounds good to me.

[ That is very coordinated and not at all unexpected. Maybe there's nothing dicey to worry about, then, and hopefully he's not some kind of jerk for dwelling on the possibility. That's all he needs, to say embarrassing crud on top of everything else here.

Not that it's not inevitable, at this rate. They've still got stuff to wade through, they just haven't gotten there yet. Probably. Or maybe they're skipping that conversation altogether and moving on?

Either way... ] Let's go, then.

[ He assumes it's not prudent to stop and run tests with Yellow right now, and that's fine. He reaches out to pat the Lion on its nearest leg before he turns to leave the area. ]

So... Video games first, I guess?

[There's no need to bring up the way she positively freaked out at Ren the first time it happened. She's honestly still not sure how he's put up with it for so long. But that's neither here nor there.

Screwy moon cycles aside, there are probably more important things to worry about. Like figuring out why Green's been neutered and how to fix her. And possibly figuring out a way to go home.]

You know where we're going? [It occurs to her that in spending so much time actively avoiding him, she has no idea what he's even been up to for a lot of the time. Oops.]

To the video games! Did you know that Lance has a copy of Kilbot Phantasm I too? Or maybe he has the original one. I'm not really sure how that works.

Yeah. I've seen it. [ He's spent time at Lance's. He's not near as into the game as the pair of them, but it's fun enough outside of being a cool, bizarre artifact from home. ] And, no, I don't totally know where we're going, but there's this place I've passed by a few times...

[ Which makes is easy enough to find, so... Good show. And arcade games come easily enough, as does cooking supper and sitting down to eat... All of it's simple and normal, and maybe all of the recent, weird happens between them aren't so heavy or puzzling after all.

It's past twilight by the time he's washing dishes, though, which... ]

Uh. So... If you're gonna call it, you better call it.

[ Either she tucks in for the night or she heads home. They gotta pick one. ]

I'm thinking of swiping one of his controllers. [The less ridiculous thing would be to get a copycat charm or two and just make copies, but where would the fun be in that?] You've never gone in? Not even with Lance?

[That's a little surprising, but alright. Maybe they'd just been too busy to get around to going. It's easy enough to lose herself in the distraction of mindless video games for a while, and then in bumming around while he makes food. It's only after they've eaten and he's cleaning up that she realizes how late it is.

The decision's not as hard to make as she'd have expected it to be.]

I need to shower. Do you have a shirt I can sleep in?

[ He might've expected it to be more complicated than that, too, but... It's simple, apparently, and his stomach does a little flip at the answer. It's another half-inch closer to stepping out of an established safety zone. Maybe. But maybe he's still over-worrying. ]

Y-yeah. 'Course. Gimme a second.

[ He rinses his last dish and sets it in the rack to dry, then crosses the sitting room to his bedroom, wiping his hands on his shorts. He's back in a moment with a t-shirt and a towel. ]

Knock yourself out. Let me know if you need anything else.

[It turns out that making decisions is a lot simpler when she doesn't give herself time to overthink them into eternity. Who would've guessed. It helps quite a bit that, despite everything else, this is still Hunk she's dealing with.

She decides not to dwell on that little slip, because doing so will just lead to more overthinking. So she waits around for him to return... and raises a brow at the obvious style choice.]

You know there's a good chance that I'm just going to keep this, right?

[Which might be slightly more effective if she hadn't just announced her intentions. But alright. She takes the offered items, shoots him a smile and a 'thanks!' and scoots off to shower, pointedly ignoring the urge to shoot back that she could probably use a hand.]

Sure. On you, it might as well be a dress.

[ He jokes, but... It's a comfy shirt. If she actually steals it, he might be a little bummed.

He's tempted to quip that she could just go get her own. She's the one swimming in Chroma, after all. But that swings them back into tricky territory, since it involves her various involvements and the imagery that fed into the GIGA connection.

But, of course, now that imagery's back. Geez.

He lets out a heavy breath once she's gone off to the bathroom. He finishes tidying up in the kitchen, gets out an extra blanket ready, then parks it back on his sofa to read while he waits. ]

Well, yea. That's about ninety percent of the appeal.

[She's mostly teasing, though she can't claim that she hasn't been tempted to swipe one of his shirts. Maybe she'll wait and see how it fits before actually making a decision.

And honestly, she could probably just get one like it. But that wouldn't be the same.

She's in and out of the shower in possibly record time. It's never taken her long, and it'd just be rude to kill all the hot water at someone else's place. At home, it's fine because Ren has come to terms with the fact that she takes long, hot showers. He's learned not to question it too much.

When she emerges again, she's still a little pink and her hair's still a little damp. The shirt fits pretty much the way he predicted it would. It takes her all of about thirty seconds to track him down, and she makes her way over to lean against the back of the sofa, arms sliding around his shoulders as she tries to peek at what he's reading.]

Anything good?

[ It's not like she sneaks up on him, but the addition of her arms around him as she leans over is new to what the usual routine would be, and he might maybe flinch just the slightest in surprise at it.

It's not like they haven't hugged, or even expressed casual affection, but... Again, the tide's apparently turning. It's a new gesture in a new context.

He shrugs and sets down his phone (Or, y'know, the Prismal, bracelet-is equivalent.) ]

Nah. Just looking at new posts. Nothing drastic.

[ Anyway... He stands. ] Wanna get tucked in now?

[Unfortunately for Hunk, she's a little less hesitant now when it comes to things like hugs, or physical affection in general. He's pretty much always been on the short list of people whose hugs she doesn't immediately sidestep away from.

It's not even something she makes a conscious decision to do, so much as it's become habit by this point. He's sitting there at the right general height, so he gets leaned on. So when he seems surprised, she at least has the decency to flash him a sheepish smile. She's not going to apologize, because she's not terribly sorry, but she's also trying not to make things unnecessarily awkward.

Which might just be a lost cause at this point, because she's already starting to feel Iris' pull.]

I'm almost afraid to ask.

[She's already spent countless hours poking around the network, and she's definitely seen some of the nonsense that people get up to. She shrugs it off a little when he stands, though she's not moving just yet.] That sounds good. But uh... d'you think I could sleep in there... with you?

Well, yeah, if... If you don't think that's going to be a problem for you, then it's not a problem for me.

[ Which... Yeah, the moon's are rising, so maybe this isn't the wisest way to lean here, but Cordis says Dumbass Rights. He's really not sure how extreme the Iris effects are, but he's always been fine getting by on cuddles. He can at least pull that much off.

Anything more than that... Well, he's done that, too. He's done that and been fine with it, keeping a cool head during and keeping a casual attitude about it after. Pidge is only a nerve-racking prospect because they're already close and because the universe depends on their functioning smoothly together. While he's fairly confident (and artificially becoming more confident) that they can be friendly and more-than at the same time, there's still the possibility that this could all bomb spectacularly.

He's also not particularly ready to articulate anything about this. He's just... He's down to letting it happen however it will.

He grabs up the extra blanket he'd gotten out for her and heads to his room. Like the rest of the apartment, it's simply decorated. The bed's unmade, but the rest is tidy enough. He tugs his own blankets off of the bed for the moment. ]

Pick a side and hop on up.

[ He wasn't joking about tucking her in. ]

It'll be fine.

[It'll probably be fine. She's hoping it will, at least. And honestly, there's no reason it shouldn't be. At this point, trying to sleep alone will probably be the bigger issue.

She's actually expecting him to side-eye at the idea a little, because it's kind of an odd request. At the very least, she's expecting some kind of off-hand remark, because it's probably how she'd react in the same situation. So she's not going to complain when he seems to take her words at face value.

Some cycles are worse than others, but for the most part, the need to touch and be touched is pretty consistent. The enhanced sense of smell is always a bit unnerving at first,though it's not the hardest thing to get used to, and it's generally worse near the middle of the cycle. And sure, she might be freaking out just a little about another unfortunate side effect of her blessing, but even that part is manageable. And she can always offer to do his laundry for him or something. No need to make a big deal out of it.

For better or worse, she's glad he'd suggested this earlier. Since coming here, and even before, she's been pretty good about being able to just be with someone and then be cool with it afterward.

But this is different, both because of their history and because they literally have the fate of an entire universe hanging on their ability to work together. No pressure. She's honestly not even worried about the possibility of things blowing up in their faces. Still, there's a reason she's been casually avoiding the rest of them during Iris cycles up until this point.

His room is pretty much what she's expecting. Simply decorated, not a lot of clutter... but it suits him. Pidge can't even tease him much about the unmade bed, because she's just as bad. She does tilt her head at him for yanking all the blankets off, though.]

Which side do you sleep on?

[She'll just take the other side. It's not a big deal. Once she has her answer, she does as she's told, and casually swipes an extra pillow.]

The left, usually.

[ As he answers, though, he realizes the whole exchange is potentially pretty fruitless. Their weight disparity means Pidge will most likely slide into his side no matter what they do. Not that they're avoiding that kind of thing, which... Makes the whole thing double-redundant.

No use rehashing it, though. Hunk waits until she's settled, the re-blankets the bed. There's sheet, his initial quilt, and then the extra he'd grabbed for Pidge, which is still especially hers! He goes to her (momentary) side and spreads it over her, leaning down to tuck all of the edges and layers in around her. Nice and secure! ]

I gotta brush my teeth and stuff, but I'll be right back.

[ Easy enough, and truth! He brushes his teeth, makes sure his door's locked, turns off the lights... When he comes back into the bedroom, he fishes out some pajama pants and changes and then crawls into bed, flopping down in a hopefully-slightly-humorous-and-tension-breaking way. ]

You comfortable?

Isn't that the lucky side?

[It probably doesn't matter so much in the long run, because it's just as likely that she'll end up on his side at some point during the night. It's honestly just a question of when. Maybe it'd be easier to just scoot on over now and save time.

The reappearance of the blankets is enough of a distraction for the time being, and she makes herself comfortable with the pillow she snagged just now. When he actually comes around to tuck her in, Pidge wrinkles her nose and smiles up at him.]

I know you said you were going to, but I can't believe you actually did it.

[He's so considerate that it makes her heart ache.

In the time it takes him to do all that, she's freed her arms and moved slightly so she's closer to his side. She can smell the toothpaste before he even comes back into the room, and her ears twitch at his approach.

Her night vision is unreliable, but she still averts her eyes while he changes because this is still her best friend, and maybe this is all slightly weird, if only for the fact that she's never spent a substantial amount of time at his place before now.

... And then he just flops into the bed like that and it's all she can do to fight the urge to laugh out loud. She manages, somehow, by chuckling, and squirms a little in an attempt to get comfortable again. The question gives her pause, though, because she can either be completely honest about this weird-ass blessing or she can tell a little white lie that'll probably accomplish nothing aside from sparing him some awkward knowledge.]

Yea! Your bed is nice.

[Nailed it?]

[ He doesn't mind being spared the knowledge for a little longer, even if he's not paying attention to whether she's sparing glances. Being in his underwear for a few seconds is probably the least weird thing about a lot of this, or... Well, the color's officially creeping from his skin, so maybe that's the unwarranted Cordis confidence talking.

Either way, he props himself up on his elbows and shrugs. ]

Yeah, I like it enough. It was free, basically, so I guess I couldn't complain even if it was cruddy. I mean, it's not, so-- [ Hunk, you're babbling. ] Yeap.

[ He shifts and wriggles to get under the covers himself, taking a moment to mull over their next hurdle. Again, he defaults to a sort of casual flippancy. No big all. Everything's actually pretty easy. ]

So... We snuggling, or what?

[It's tempting to look. Maybe the only reason she manages to avoid it is that he's clearly focused on something else, and sneaking a peek just feels a little off. It's not even like she's never seen a shirtless guy before, because that ship sailed months ago. But it's completely different now, because this is Hunk and he's great. And she's officially overthinking. Amazing.]

Free's good. But uh... you know you don't have to stick with the stuff they gave you, right? Obviously, if it doesn't suck, there's probably no reason to change it now... but sure. [Why is the bed suddenly such an interesting point of discussion? Who knows, but it's nice and safe.] This is nice, though...

[There's only so much she can say about his bed that isn't going to sound like a line, though, so she's just going to leave that hanging there. No big deal. If nothing else, they can probably look back on this night in the future and laugh.

The question makes her smile, and she turns a little so she's facing him.]

You tell me.

[ He answers that with a momentarily flat expression, not too sour, but... Don't reverse questions back at him. That's not a fair tactic!

She's smiling, so... Yes? He huffs a little and moves to gather her up. What's a little polite spooning between friends, right? So far, so good. Knock on wood, etc. ]

That's not how you answer questions, Pidge. [ Important, actually, because... ] If we're being idiots, here, I... I don't know. Solid yeses and noes, okay?

[Answering questions with questions is something she's pretty good at. It's not particularly helpful or fair, and she's not terribly bothered by that fact.

Except maybe she feels a little bad about it this time. Fortunately, distraction comes in the form of him pulling her close, and she wastes no time in pressing against him.]

That's how I always answer questions. [Or almost always, but she doesn't feel like quibbling over technicalities. He raises a good point, though.] Are we being idiots? [Because she doesn't have a problem with that. If that's what they're doing, then that's what they're doing.] Yea, I think I can handle that.

[ Well, they aren't not being idiots, but-- Well. Are any of the other options available to them any more reasonable? If they'd just walked away from talking through or acting on anything, they'd just be stuck at an awkward impasse. Either way, there was going to be some kind of issue.

Honestly, he's not sure how he's so spectacularly stumbled headlong into right here, right now, because it wasn't his intention in going to talk with her today. He'd kind of banked on that other option, that they'd be able to clear the air and move on, but now..?

He's not fighting it, but it's still nagging his subconscious. He just doesn't want this to be a mess, and it's not necessarily Pidge that he's worried about, in that sense. ]

So, uh... Your other boyfriends won't come after me, right? What's the arrangement there, exactly?

[It's mostly a rhetorical question, so she's not really expecting an answer. Maybe they're not being idiots, but they're also not being terribly smart about it, either.

Going home would've been the smart thing to do. But he'd invited her to stay, and she wanted to stay, despite knowing how many ways this could potentially go sideways. Honestly, though, she was less worried about how Ren or Akechi would feel and more worried about unintentionally making things awkward and him deciding that he didn't want to hang out for a while.]

I mean... Ren and I have agreed to seeing other people. He was only upset when he found out I was with someone else while he was gone because he thought I was trying to replace him. [That whole thing was kind of a mess, and mostly her fault, but it had worked out in the end, at least.] Akechi is also seeing other people. Probably more than I am, honestly. I've never actually asked. [That's probably weird, but she's not terribly interested in who else Akechi's seeing, so it works out. She's just going to casually ignore the fact that he'd said other boyfriends.]

Of the two, Ren is the most likely to say something. He talks a big game, but he's basically harmless.

I mean, you say that, but... [ He'd kinda gone ballistic on the fox people who'd rounded up Moonblessed at that festival a few months ago. Hunk wouldn't have pegged the guy for physical violence, either, and maybe that was some moment of exception, but also? ] He seems kinda'... I dunno'. Intense? Sometimes?

[ But he's not going to be good at providing convincing examples, and he doesn't want to sound like he's using the opportunity to pick at someone, so... Moving on. Maybe bringing up Pidge's network isn't a good topic for right now.

So joking about being in the clear vs winning the fight if he's not in the clear is the best route out of this, right? No? ] I mean, I guess I could take him if I had to, maybe, but... I don't want people coming after me.

[ Alright, moving on! He curls in a little bit, giving her a little squeeze. ]

Anyway... You wanna try to nap for a bit?

[Hunk's not entirely wrong. With one recent exception, Ren's always been kind of a pushover. Sure, he can be a bit intense sometimes, but Pidge is generally used to that and she knows that it's just talk. Or maybe she's just used to him being a certain way, so it seems like less of a threat than it actually is. Who knows?] He can be. He's been through a lot, though. [She's honestly still impressed that he's as well-adjusted as he is, all things considered.

They're not really here to dance around Ren's tragic backstory, though. It's not hers to tell, for one. And there's honestly still a lot she doesn't know about him.]

He's faster than I am, but you could definitely take him in a fair fight. But like I said. You don't have to worry about him. [If it was an issue, she wouldn't have agreed to stay over in the first place.

Pidge smiles and snuggles back against him.] That was the plan, wasn't it? [A flimsy plan, perhaps, but that was what he'd offered. Still, she can't resist the urge to tease him a little.] Unless you had something else in mind?

Nnnno?

[ He'd had the thought, maybe even with fair consistency since the GIGA incident, but he didn't have the expectation. Not wholly, even given their admitted idiocy. He's still wary of copping to anything, still worried about plunging forward.

Either way, it's not like this whole sleepover is laden with ulterior motives. That's the truth of it. ]

You said you were tired. If you can rest, I want you to rest.

[He's so easy to tease, sometimes. But it's honestly pretty comforting to see that he's still the same as he always was, despite having been in this place for so long.

It's completely selfish of her, but she's thought about it countless times. Some of the things they'd seen during the trip in the GIGA unit certainly hadn't helped. If anything, it just makes it harder to get him out of her head. Really, though, she isn't sure she wants to.]

I can't remember the last time I wasn't tired. [She's reaching for his hands now, because as much as she has thought about being with him, she was also being serious when she said that a change of scenery might help.] Stay with me?

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