'Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins,
I want to find you, tear out all of your tenderness...'
-Howl, Florence and the Machine
The ice-ball storm leaves them stranded in the small cave in the forest, and while Up's glad they've got shelter, he's not at all comfortable with how close Taz is.
The rock walls keep them pressed close as they lie side-by-side, Up on his stomach and Taz on her back. He's watching the hailstones sinking into the sand and bouncing between the trees, while Taz is trying to get a signal on the radio inside the cave.
"Dis is stoopid," she mutters.
He turns his head on his arms to look at her. "What is?"
"Dis whole mission!" She growls, twisting a couple of wires together roughly. "It reeks."
"Reeks?" His nose twitches automatically. "Ya mean, it's fishy?"
"Of course it's fishy!" She snaps the back of the receiver back into place. "The Galactic ship firing on us? De urgent mission? Everything!"
"Taz?"
They both straighten as the familiar voice comes through the emergency radio.
"Bug." Taz is grinning. "It worked!"
"Uh, what worked?"
"Not even a bit of static," Up comments proudly, squeezing Taz's shoulder.
It turns out to be a bad move, because she's still damp, wearing that wet vest, and it brings back a whole flood of feelings as he remembers that single drop of water hanging from her–
"Well, I've got some news for you both!"
Up manages to shake himself out of his thoughts. "Huh? What's that? Early rescue or somethin'?"
"No, sorry. But we found out about what happened! Turns out it was a cadet and he didn't recognise the shuttle's reg. so he got a bit trigger-happy."
"Joo're getting better at de human thing, Bug," Taz says.
"Thanks! Krayonder taught me that trigger-happy one."
"No surprise there," Up mutters. "So, it was all some wet-eared boy tryin' to be a hero?"
"Sure was, Commander. Isn't it funny?"
Taz and he both look out on the alien world where the hailstones are getting bigger and dropping harder the longer the night lasts.
"I was wrong. Joo need to work on de human thing." Taz scowls. "Dis planet sucks."
"Oh, well, good news is that we know sort of where you are, so we'll get there a bit sooner."
"That is good news," Up says, smiling and feeling a little better about the whole thing. "How much sooner?"
"Uh, well, not that much, but, you know, we're on our way!"
Taz mutters something and cuts off their end of the line so she can turn to Up and reel off about the situation.
"I can't believe it! Two of deir best soldiers and dey leave us stranded on dis fucking planet!"
"Now, Taz," he soothes, hand automatically on her shoulder again. "We'll be alright."
"Oh, yeah? Joo see food anywhere around here, Up?"
And then, like dead God had planned it, a strange deer-like animal with a bright white hide comes tiptoeing past their hidden cave, seeming completely unbothered by the lumps of ice falling and trying to crush it.
Up's 'I told you so' smile is patently ignored by Taz, who simply mutters, "Fluke."
It's strange actually, Taz thinks, the time that passes, because not only does the storm continue unabated but it doesn't exactly do anything else.
Sure, the hailstones were real enough when they sent Up flying into the cave, but they didn't bother the alien deer that now roasts over their campfire, or the actual flames of the fire itself. In fact, the ice-balls have been and still are hitting everywhere but near the cave.
Up had been cautious at first, lighting the fire with his lucky Zippo and dried root-vines outside of the cave on the dry sand, in case he was hit again. But he hadn't been hit, and still hasn't, and it makes Taz suspicious.
She's already told him she doesn't like it. He's already told her not to look a gift-horse in the mouth.
They eat the charred meat ravenously once Up decrees it safe. They'd already been cheated out of one meal on their ship, they didn't want to go without another by the storm worsening or another flip of fate.
When they're done, lips shining with grease and their bellies full, Taz takes up one side of the cave while Up takes up the other. They both lie on their backs, the emergency radio on Up's hip, staring up at the roof of the cave that's strangely bug-less.
"Don't joo think it's weird," Taz says, "dat dere's no life but dat one deer?"
"Come on, Taz," Up drawls lazily. "We don't know what's on this planet. It was just luck that deer came along when it did. Aren't ya glad it did? I sure am."
She says nothing. She is glad, she'd thought they might have to eat the skin of the trees or starve for a while, but she can't say she's happy about the strange coincidences, because, in her experience, coincidences have always been engineered by someone or other.
"I wish I had a book," she tells him.
Up smiles, eyes closed. "I know, Taz. I know. You're always readin'."
She's always been a bit of a bibliophile, not that anyone but Up knows it, and she's always had a soft spot for the classics. When she's not training or on missions with Up, she likes to sit in her quarters for hours on end and just read. Except on Fridays. Friday nights are movie nights for her and Up, and they're always the best night of the week.
Not that she'd ever tell him that.
Thinking about Up though, well, it always leads her to the same place. Even when she's right next to him, talking to him, she can't help but think that she's too far away, not quite close enough for what she wants to do.
And what she wants to do scares her to death. Not literally, because she's tough, but if her feelings for Up were pins then she'd be one hell of a walking, talking voodoo doll.
She thinks about that time on the spaceship when they all saw Megagirl for the first time, how Up had screamed and hidden himself behind her. She still knows it wasn't because she would have been a tough shield for the robot to get through – it was because Up trusted her to protect him, and she did. Even when he kissed her back.
She thinks about that kiss a lot, that press of his lips to her spine. She'd broken out in a light sweat at the sight of Megagirl, so she doubts it was great for him, but still, his mouth was warm and she could feel his moustache, and it told her it was Up, kissing her and trusting her, making her feel good.
She's an idiota, she knows it, but she refuses to care. So she has feelings for Up, that doesn't make her weak! It just makes her vulnerable, vulnerable if he doesn't feel the same way. Not that she cares, of course.
But she would like to feel his mouth on her back again though, just once more, without the mistaken threat of a robot massacre hanging over them.
Suddenly, the cave shifts.
Taz is about to leap up, thinking the sand around them is sinking, when the two sides of the cave grind noisily and close in. She kicks out instinctively, trying to hold her ground as she lies down, Up pressed against her back as she turns with her arms stretched out.
Up's hands are either side of hers on the wall, leveraging his body to push back against the still-grinding rock.
She's about to pull him up and out, even though the ice-storm could kill them – at least it would be faster than being crushed to death, she thinks – when Up is suddenly pressed to every inch of her back and then the tightening space stops closing in.
Taz is panting. So is Up.
The hairs on the back of her neck salute his hot breath, his moustache-less lip, and his soft words.
"What the hell was that?"
She swallows and shrugs.
Up's hand grips her hip and she represses the shiver she wants to show. Dios, she wants him.
"You okay?" He asks.
She realises how close they are now that the walls have pressed them together, and how hot her skin feels with just the thought of all of Up's body against hers.
Taz swallows again. "Sí. I'm good."
She sounds normal enough, and Up doesn't call her on it. She feels him move his head before he sighs.
"Storm's still pretty bad. Seems like the best of a bad lot. We'll stay here until the clouds pass and if the earth starts movin' again, well, at least we got some time to get out. Best get some sleep now, Taz."
She feels a smile curl her lip at the way none of his words were suggestions or questions. He'd taken charge and issued orders like the real commander she knows he is.
"Buenas noches, Up."
She's asleep before she even hears his reply, his breath soft and steady against her neck.
He'd like to be able to sleep, but his training won't let him have both of them unawares on a strange alien world. Up doubts he could sleep anyway, even with the chance, because although he's slept next to Taz before, this is different.
He's never been pressed against her like this, never so close, and as a chill creeps into the cave and he instinctively wraps himself around her so they both stay warm, he wonders if he'll ever have the chance again.
The storm's gotta pass over eventually, and when it does they'll find some better shelter, so for now he just enjoys what he'll never feel again.
Like Taz's shoulders shifting against his chest with her breathing, or the heat of her back warm against his stomach, or her... He swallows. His arm's over her, just beneath her breasts, and he can feel their shape, their weight, and it doesn't help that her ass is pressed against him at the same time in the confined space.
It's like information overload – something he found was deadly to those robots they fought – and he can't get enough of it. He knows he's a bit older than her, and he's not as attractive as he used to be, but he's hard for her and aching, and there's this twisting in his belly that isn't anything to do with the lust and all to do with the fact he loves the red bandana off of his lieutenant.
She doesn't know – how could she when he's too chicken to tell her? – but he likes to think she has an inkling that he at least likes her more than someone he fought beside in some of the bloodiest battles in Earth's history. That he...you know, has some feelings for her.
Because he does – he really does – and it's getting harder and harder for him to keep his mouth shut when every day Taz says something even more interesting than the last, or she picks up another habit he can't help but fixate on, or Krayonder just won't quit eyeing her up when he thinks no one's looking.
But Up is always looking. How can he not? Taz is great, better than great, and he just wants to show her that he knows it.
He wants to be able to go to her quarters without the pretence of The Karate Kid to get close to her. He wants to be able to input that code to her rooms, go in, climb in her bed with her and hear her tell him something, anything, before he falls asleep with her. He wants to wake up in the morning, the room as quiet as the black space outside of the ship, and he wants to kiss her, wake her up, tease her until he can watch her riding him...
It's a fantasy, one that's been going on for quite some time, but he hopes, one day, it'll come true.
His mouth finds the soft skin of her shoulder. Her hair smells sweet.
"You'll see soon, Taz. I'll show ya."
If he doesn't chicken out again of course...like all the other times. Like when he bought her those Fredic space roses that change colour – it was a few years ago and it wasn't a special occasion, and he ended up flushing them into space because he thought she'd get the wrong idea. Or the right one, really.
It's all one long chase with Taz, Up thinks, except she doesn't know he's chasing her.
He doesn't want to fall asleep, he can't, but with his lips against her skin and her hair smelling so damn nice, well...it happens anyway.
He likes her being there, against him, holding her.
She knows it's still dark when she wakes. She doesn't want it to be morning just yet, because morning means moving out of Up's warmth.
One of his hands is clutching hers above her head, and the other is across her stomach, fingers gently flexing in sleep. Luckily, she's not ticklish. Unluckily, it's a sensation that makes her squirm pleasantly.
She likes his hands, always has, and she has good reason. Up's hands are big, so strong she's seen him decapitate a robot with them, and yet they can be unbelievably gentle.
His fingertips are soft against the sliver of her belly open to him in the gap between her vest and pants. His thumb rests over her navel, and when it twitches it sends thousands of fluttering things crashing through her chest.
Carefully, beneath his finely-muscled arm, she turns over.
His brow creases, but it smoothes out once his fingers find purchase on her back. His hand slips up underneath her vest, pressing her close to him by the small of her back, and she has to fight to keep her cool.
She's always been passionate, and she'd like nothing better than to show Up just how passionate she can be. She might be brave, but when it comes to telling someone you like them...well, no one does it, although she can't quite remember why.
He doesn't look much younger when he sleeps, or less scarred, but she likes him unaware of her eyeing him nonetheless. He's best when he's alert, when she can see that sheen of battle-lust in his eyes, but she likes it when he's tired too, when he just can't keep that goofy, lazy smile off of his face.
She likes it when they have time, and then, like an idiota, she realises that on this planet, with their rescue so far away, all they actually have is time.
Taz shuffles closer, not that there's much of a gap to close, and Up unconsciously shifts in his sleep so his body is protecting hers.
She looks at his mouth, free of his moustache, and wonders how his lips look so...much better. She likes the moustache, but she's always thought it would tickle if she, you know, kissed him.
She could do it now though, without it tickling and while he's asleep, without him even knowing, and then if she didn't like it she wouldn't have to embarrass herself telling him she likes him. Although, she's completely sure she would like it, and if she did, where would it end?
She shuts herself up and she does it.
His lips are warm against hers, lax in sleep, and even though it's like kissing the back of her hand action-wise, the flurry of heat that erupts through her is more than nothing. So much more.
Up's breathing hitches against her mouth and she looks up, surprised her eyes are shut, to see those bright blues fixed on her without a shred of sleep in them.
Author's note: Thanks for the reads and reviews! More chapters to come!