Next time Peppy woke up, he ate that food Jim left. Listened at his door, and when he heard nothing, he opened it. No one was there. Only an empty hallway. Had his gun on him, though it made him sick, made him regret eating that food.
Walked around the base. Avoided the cafeteria.
Didn't see Jim, and knew that he wouldn't. Could almost imagine he was the only one here.
Was a damn lonesome place, this was.
Got woken up again by the same knocking, the voice, still rough, but this time more persistent.
"Pep, come out with your gun, shoot me if you have to. I don't care, just open the door. It's been days."
That couldn't be right. Couldn't have been days.
"Come on, Pep. Open the door. Please, open the door."
Had never heard Jim pleading. Scared him. Scared him enough that he did get up. Stood in front of the door. Thought of opening the door, stared at the door, then finally did.
There was some more food on the floor, and Jim was nearly at the end of the hallway by then, noted that his tail was neutral, his ears were neutral, but he turned around when Peppy called out his name.
Jim had his shades off, his eyes a steely blue, and they stared at each other, but only for a moment, 'cause Peppy got that coil in his legs, that burst of speed but instead of running away, he ran towards him, wasn't even sure what he was doing until he had his arms around Jim's shoulders, and he flashed back to all those nights sharing the bed, the comfort that there was somebody else alive and breathing on this moon, how much he'd missed him, then wondered what the hell was wrong with him, hadn't everybody proved him wrong? That when push came to shove, Jim was a fox and he was a rabbit, and that was just the way of the world?
But maybe he'd always been a rebel at heart, wanted to get off the ground when most people were content to stay on it, joined the Air Force when nobody but his family and Viv thought he could, thought he was just some backwards country bumpkin who talked funny and then was a rabbit to boot, got through all that hazing 'cause he wanted it so bad, and he wasn't ready to throw in the towel yet with Jim.
Knew it'd take a lot, to get past this, had all his instincts screaming at him to get away, get back behind the closed door, keep his distance, and maybe that's why he did the exact opposite, closed the distance the only way he knew how, and maybe Jim felt the same, felt him grab him around the back, felt himself tense and fought it, listened to Jim's fervent apologies, muttered over and over again, pressed his forehead to his and Jim pressed back, like they had to prove it, prove they could be this close and have nothing bad happen. That it didn't matter that Jim had fangs and claws that could rip him apart, that Peppy didn't have ears that were meant to hear him coming so they'd never be in the same place, or legs that were meant to run away, or that he could probably get a pretty good chomp in with his buckteeth if he had to.
Just the opposite, actually. Felt calmer, better, even when Jim moved down, started nuzzling his neck with his snout, knew it was friendly, even though his mouth was at his neck. Felt like he was in a sort of daze or dream, actually, like part of him knew exactly what was happening, when he grabbed Jim's wrist and started walking back to his room, as the door shut behind him, that they weren't suddenly this hands on with each other, that they were crossing some threshold, some boundary that there was no going back from, but another part of him argued, this was still proving that they could be together, this close even, in a confined space and have nothing happen, because they would be sharing a bed tonight, just as they had been before, that this was friendly, mending what they'd had, but a deeper part of him knew that wasn't true, that the context of all that was changing, being this close, that Jim's continuing nuzzling on his neck and his holds on his back were more than friendly, and so was the way Peppy was holding him back, but just like before about bunking together, he couldn't quite admit it, that maybe they weren't sitting down on his bed now 'cause it was the only seating that could fit them both, that when Jim started licking and grooming the fur on his neck, it wasn't what sometimes got whispered about back in barracks, when there weren't a lot of women around, and guys got lonely.
And then some other instinct was kicking in, that the signals were all wrong here, Jim grooming him first, with his proud posture, versus Peppy's downtrodden tail and ears, what he'd kept telling himself was because he was cold, yet that's what was happening, as Jim moved to his forehead and tilted it down, and Peppy let him, felt like he couldn't have stopped it if he'd tried, and Jim started grooming the space between his ears, then, most shockingly, his ears themselves, and heard the echo of himself saying to so many people so many times how he hated having his ears touched, and here was Jim making a liar out of him, enough so that he had to bite down his teeth to stop the whine that was threatening to come out, and there was that dream like feeling, like he was floating, like all this was the most natural thing in the world, that he and Jim had always been heading to where they found themselves right now, so why fight it, and he closed his eyes, and like there was a gale pushing him onwards, he moved forward, had his mouth pressed to Jim's, and Jim was right there with him, pressing back, tightening his grip around Peppy's back as Peppy moved his arms back around Jim's shoulders, pulling them closer together, and they both sighed, in relief, exhaustion, realization, but it didn't last long, Jim moved their mouths together again, pressing in with his tongue this time, again with the mixed messages, he was soft, slow there, but his grip on Peppy's back was iron.
Maybe was trying to prove he could fight his nature, could hold himself back, lower himself, even, but maybe there was only so much one could fight one's nature. Like he was trying to be less aggressive than he was and only able to do a half assed job of it.
Probably would only continue to lose that battle, if they kept going, and they did, as they sat more fully on the bed, facing each other, and Jim pulled him forward into the space between his legs, then crossed them in back, enclosing him in, only to pull Peppy's up and over, hooking them over his hips and dangling them behind him. Didn't pull him fully onto his lap, let him stay resting on the bed, except the position put him off balance, and as he straightened his back to compensate, pulling away from Jim ever so slightly, and Jim put his hands on his waist, there was a pause, and they looked at each other one more time.
Jim's blue eyes were still steely, but there was something charged in them, electric. Wondered what Jim was seeing in his red eyes.
That thought floated back, that maybe they were lonely, stir-crazy, or just plain crazy at this point. That maybe he should ask, but he was scared to, and his nose started twitching around, and Jim cocked his head, curious, and that only made it start twitching more, but since a helluva lot of good it did last time not saying anything, he decided to spit something out.
"…What are we doing, Jim? I mean… this ain't just a case of slim pickings, is it?"
It hung there between them for a moment, since it took Jim a moment to respond. Got more and more spooked about what he was going to say, until he came out with, steady as always:
"Don't know about you, but I can go more than a month or two."
"...Yeah. I can too." Peppy admitted. In fact, had gone a lot longer than that. Hadn't actually been with anybody since Viv. Hadn't been with anybody before her, either. Not that he wanted to share that at the moment.
"Think it's pretty obvious then Pep, what this is." Jim continued regardless.
Peppy sighed. "Guess I can't argue that. I just… I never saw this coming."
"Ears deceived you." Jim said simply.
"Did you?" Peppy asked, curious and Jim let out a sigh of his own.
"Should have known sooner. Only figured it out after throwing you down in the pantry. Not one of my better come-ons."
"...What? That's what you were doing?"
"Hunting, courting, it was all mixed up at that point, couldn't sort out what was what. When'd you figure it out?"
"…"
"Just now, huh? We're getting slow."
Peppy found himself at a loss for words. Struck between the two urges again, wanted to wrap his arms around Jim's shoulders, start up what they'd been doing before, but just couldn't make up his mind. Was all happening so fast...
"Up to you, Pep. Tell me what you want." Jim interrupted his thoughts, only to start nuzzling his neck again, and Peppy couldn't help himself either, put his arms around his shoulders again.
"...You want to?" Peppy asked, even though all signs were pointing to go, he just wanted to hear Jim say it this time, and he did, one of his typical one syllable answers, heavy and solid like his first handshake, and Peppy liked the sound of it so much he asked it again, then just kept doing it, a funny conversation of the same word said in different ways, until Jim turned the tables and was the one asking him for confirmation.
"Yeah."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, then"
"Okay?"
"Okay."
"Okay."
Then Jim leaned back, after getting the final word in, to unzip his jacket, casual, undo the buttons on his shirt with the ease of something he'd done a thousand times before, grab the bottom of his undershirt, pull the thing over his head and then toss everything over the side of the bed and looking at him, Jim was… well Jim was in good shape. Always had been. Toned.
Peppy…. wasn't. Wasn't in bad shape, never had been, between working on a farm most of his childhood, then going through the same basic training as everybody else in the Air Force, but despite being able to jump high and run fast, he'd never had that strong look Jim naturally had, and was surprised he felt this self-conscious, except he didn't have a lot of time to think about it, Jim was already going for the zip on Peppy's jacket, the buttons on his shirt with the ease of something he'd done a thousand times before, grabbing the bottom of his undershirt, pulling it over Peppy's head then tossing everything over the side of the bed.
And now that a whole lot more of his gray fur was showing, he didn't think it looked nearly as impressive as Jim's sporty orange. Was never catching anybody's eye, standing out from a crowd, but had always felt better like that. As far as rabbits went, he was decent looking. Knew he wasn't the pick of the crop, but never felt any grief over it.
Again, Jim didn't give him a whole lot of time to think, pulled him up into his lap now, then before he had any time to be embarrassed about that, kissed him, resumed that iron clad hold on his back again, and Peppy did relax for awhile, liked this, even if he felt ridiculous.
Remembered the first time he'd pulled Viv up onto his lap, the front seat of that old jalopy one night, how happy he'd been, how beautiful she'd looked, then also knew Vickie had once been where he was now.
Tried to tell himself stop thinking like that, wasn't doing nobody any good, but he felt so damn guilty, like he was betraying his wife's trust, and Vickie's by messing around with her husband.
Send a jolt through him when Jim started messing around with his tail, that whine he'd held back before came out, felt Jim tighten his hold on him when he started to squirm, and in this position, couldn't deny the friction that caused between them, the pressure that was building down low, the thrumming and pulsing of blood flowing south.
Wasn't long before he felt Jim's hands on his belt, and he pulled back, could feel his skin prickling where Jim's eyes were roving about, but couldn't raise his eyes to look at him, except what was he doing acting this shy, was too old for this, yet his ears were getting in on the act too, straying crooked, bending in half, going sideways and opposite each other, one going left and the other going right, helicoptering around up there, had been a real long time since that had happened.
Jim wasn't doing any of this funny business, actually, looked the calmest Peppy had seen him since they'd arrived here, he had a focus, a mission, gave him a power he'd been lacking since they'd crash-landed, and then Peppy found himself falling, his back crashing onto the bed, with Jim, still kneeling, towering over him, undoing his belt, kicking off his pants, kicking off what was underneath them too.
Peppy undid his own belt the rest of the way, unfastened his pants with fumbling hands, lifted his hips so Jim could slide them off and the rest was a blur, his legs twisting around Jim's above him, and gripping the sheets as Jim had a hand wrapped around gripping them both, more whines that he couldn't fight, low moans from Jim himself that struck a deep chord in him, gave him goosebumps all over, made his fur stand on end, all of this felt supercharged, didn't have the endurance for it, and didn't take him long to climax, didn't take Jim much either, but neither was one time enough, they were back at it again, and again, until finally Jim fell down on top of him, pressing his full weight down on him, and Peppy knew he was going to stay there awhile, wasn't just a pit-stop, resting between rounds, they really had to catch their breath, but still Jim reached up to interlock their fingers, only to begin slowly grooming his neck again, and Peppy could feel a rush of heat come on, a different kind then the passion before, when he remembered there was a reason sometimes, could kick himself for not having seen it, that Jim was right earlier, about things and instincts getting all mixed up sometimes, that there were precedents for someone with Jim's bearing to be the one doing the grooming.
Felt another instinct come on, when his teeth started clicking together, slow, steady, purring, and when Jim pulled away to look down at him, Peppy knew that Jim knew exactly what he was doing and why he was doing it, and could tell he was satisfied, enough to lean down and whisper right into his ear, causing another wave of goosebumps, both the sensation of it and what Jim said.
"Good."
Jim could always pack a lot into one word.