Writing nearly 20k for these two apparently hasn't been enough for me, so here's more fluff! These'll be prompts generally under 1k that I find from tumblr or get from mutuals/friends. I'm always open to taking prompts as well, so hmu if you got any!

This first one is from a prompt list on tumblr, from the first prompt/idea: Give me more of Person A nuzzling into Person B's neck because they're cold and tired, and Perso g.


"Long day?"

It took him a moment to register that Veronica was speaking to him, and he nodded when he finally processed her question. "Like a week too long," he muttered, shutting the door to his quarters. "Haven't slept in six days." He'd be on the floor right now if not for Spartan bones holding him upright, but even augmented humans could only handle so much.

She hummed in sympathy, getting up from where she sat at his bunk to reach for him. He realised she must have been waiting for him to return from the debrief with Palmer and Osiris, and a smile tugged at his mouth. "At least you're back now," she said quietly, confirming his suspicions and wrapping her arms around him. Her head found a comfortable spot on his chest, and he felt the tension in her body slowly ease out of her now that he was back from what should have been a twenty-four mission.

"Sounds like you were worried." He pulled her close, breathing in the smell of her hair.

"Only because it's you," she replied, and he heard the grin in her voice. "And because you smell like you're actually dead." She made a show of sniffing at him, poking at his worn-in Spartan underskin.

He frowned and tugged her arms loose from around his waist, wrinkling his nose. "Sorry. Armour's supposed to self-clean, but…."

Veronica waved him off and pushed him towards the entrance of the bathroom Osiris shared. "Go wash up," she instructed, tone gentle. "I'll be here."

Only by the grace of god did he manage to follow her orders without keeling over in the stall, standing under the spray for only as long as he needed. A hot shower after a week-long mission was certainly nice, but curling up into bed with Veronica was even nicer.

He shuffled back into his quarters five minutes later, dressed in fresh, off-duty sleepwear. Veronica was still sitting on his bunk, where she said she'd be, frowning at her comm's holoscreen and muttering under her breath.

"What're you working on?" Buck shifted her over to slip under the thin blanket wrapped tightly around his mattress, shivering. Spartan Town was always too damn cold, and the exhaustion and wet hair weren't helping him much, either.

"We'll both go to prison if I tell you," she replied offhandedly, but didn't bother to angle her screen away from his line of sight. "But without going into specifics, I'm writing a long email to someone I don't want to about a report I don't remember writing."

"Sounds fun." He nudged her to move again so he could stretch out his legs, sighing in relief that he was finally on a soft, horizontal surface. "C'mere," he whined and pawed at her waist when she continued to frown at her top-secret email instead of crawling into bed beside him. She held up a finger and then tapped at her keyboard, indicating that he needed to wait.

Suppressing what would have been a grumpy sigh, he watched her type to help him stay awake, grinning every time she huffed and jabbed at the backspace to rewrite her thoughts in what he figured was probably more polite language. He'd never known her to cheap out on scathing rebuttals. The rhythmic dance of her hands across the holographic keypad was soothing to watch, though, and he found himself dozing despite his desire to stay awake until she came to bed.

At some point she sighed and shut off her comm, rubbing at her eyes. "I'll just… finish it tomorrow," she murmured. He blinked, coming out of his state of semi-consciousness, and immediately pulled her down beside him when he realised she was done with work. She laughed at his insistence but complied, only pulling away to place her comm on the bedside table and shake out her ponytail. Then she burrowed under the blanket and snuggled up next to him. "You're really warm," she hummed, pressing a kiss to his collarbone.

"I'm frozen, actually," he complained, searching for solace in the crook of her neck. She shifted up on the pillow to pull his head in to rest on her shoulder, and wrapped her arm around his back to bring him in closer. "You're warm. And smell nice."

She laughed and rubbed at his back, settling against him. His bunk was larger than regular Marine beds to accommodate his Spartan size, and it was just wide enough to snugly fit in an extra normal-sized person. He wrapped his free arm around her waist and anchored her firmly to the bed, though he doubted she wanted to leave. She looked almost as tired as he felt, which was saying something.

"How long you on Infinity for again?" he murmured, already half asleep.

"Few more days," she replied, idly playing with his still-damp hair. "Maybe a week, depending on how demanding Osman is."

"Mmm," he hummed, leaning into the stroke of her fingers and closing his eyes. "I vote a week."

The smile in her voice was evident again, and it was the last thing he heard before falling asleep. "I'll let her know."