Missing Moments in PoM: Red Queen ch 9: Short and Sweet Moments

1. Cuddle Time

'Ugh! Mort, get off the royal feet!' Julien glared down at the mouse lemur that was daring to cuddle his queen's precious appendages. The red lemur opened his eyes and sat up, staring directly at the taller lemur.

'Julien... I want you to listen to me,' Clemson whispered, his fingers tracing down the lemur king's chest.

'Yes, my beautiful queen,' the ring-tailed lemur purred, his eyes focused completely on his sexy queen.

'Are you listening? With both your ears?' the red lemur gave one grey ear a gentle tug and batted his green eyes at his lover.

'Yessss,' Julien leaned closer, almost lip-to-lip with his mate.

'Good,' Clemson pushed the grey lemur back, his seductive grin turning into an angry frown. His next words came out with a furious hiss. 'You Do Not OWN Me, Julien!'

Maurice felt his jaw drop as he stared at the queen in shock. {Oh no... King Julien is going to spaz out...}

'K-k-k-k... You... you...' Julien's entire body began to twitch erratically.

SLAP!

'Julien... Stop that, right now,' Clemson ordered, watching the taller lemur cradle his reddened cheek.

'You hit me!' Julien's golden eyes filled with tears, his bottom lip quivering.

'It was barely a love tap. Besides, you were freaking me out. Now, I may be your mate, but that doesn't mean that you own me. It's still my body. Also, I don't mind if Mort snuggles my feet once in a while, so stop spazzing out over it and Go To Sleep Already!' Clemson laid down on the bouncy and turned his back to his lover in defiance.

Maurice stared back and forth between the pair. Julien seemed to be actually contemplating Clemson's words as he watched the red lemur drift off to sleep with Mort still attached to his foot. Finally, the king sighed and laid down, cuddling as close as he dared to his lover's back.

{Does anything scare Clemson? King Julien flips at him and he barely blinks. Things are certainly going to be different around here} Maurice settled down and drifted to sleep.

2. Need a Little Healing?

'Kowalski, do you have any more of that healing spray?' Maurice popped his head through the opening to the penguin's base.

'I believe I have an extra bottle around here somewhere. Did someone get hurt?' Kowalski asked, rummaging around for his first aid supplies.

'Clemson bit Julien and I have a feeling it won't be the last time,' the old lemur sighed, causing Skipper and Rico to chuckle in amusement.

'I thought they were getting along well,' Private hugged his pillow close and gave Maurice a worried look.

'Julien likes to push his boundaries and Clemson isn't afraid to put his foot down. I'd say they make the perfect royal couple,' Maurice stated, clearly amused. Kowalski stepped closer and handed him the spray bottle.

'You know, it's really hard to dislike red-fur. Not only is he keeping ring-tail busy, but he's refusing to let him drive the rest of us crazy as well,' Skipper grinned, sipping his coffee as the lemur disappeared from the entranceway with his prize in hand.

3. When in Hoboken...

'Clemson. Time to wake up.'

The red-furred lemur felt himself drifting into consciousness as Hans' familiar voice interrupted his dreams. He opened his green eyes to the sight of the puffin's multi-coloured beak in his face.

'I'm awake,' Clemson yawned, stretching out on the bouncy and shaking his head to clear the last bit of sleep from his mind. The sun was just rising on the horizon and the former assassin wanting nothing more than to curl back up with Julien and drift back into his dreams. Unfortunately, the puffin was now giving him a very stern glare.

'This had better be good,' the red lemur grumbled, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the tip of Julien's nose before following his friend out of the habitat.

'Ah, what a beautiful morning. There's nothing like a peaceful stroll to get the blood pumping, the senses tingling, the lemur and the puffin fighting... Wait, what?' Skipper turned around quickly and darted back up the path, his eyes widening at the sight before him.

Red-fur and Hans were locked in a vicious battle. Wings and hands hitting and blocking as they danced savagely on the grass. At least they hadn't left the zoo, but why the duce were they fighting?

The penguin winced as Hans struck out with his feet, knocking Clemson off balance. The lemur rolled back to his feet, snapping his sharp teeth at the puffin.

'ENOUGH!'

Clemson and Hans blinked as their next attacks were blocked by a set of black flippers. Cold blue eyes glared back and forth between them as they stepped back, staring at Skipper in shock.

'That's right. Break it up!' the penguin ordered, keeping his body at the ready, just in case they decided to attack him.

'What?' Clemson blinked, eyeing the penguin curiously.

'What has you two arguing this early in the morning?' the commander demanded, refusing to move from his spot between them.

'We were sparring,' Hans commented, wings crossed over his chest as he gave the other bird an annoyed look.

'Looked more like trying to kill each other to me,' Skipper stated.

'We were Hoboken sparring. Hans thinks I'm getting soft,' the lemur shrugged.

'Yes. We do have rules, you know. No serious injuries... actually, that's the only rule,' Hans rubbed the underside of his beak and pushed down the urge to tickle the penguin until he gave in... {Tickle? Where did that come from? For some reason, I really do want to tickle him until he stops glaring at us}

'What you were both doing was very dangerous. But, I suppose I can't really argue,' Skipper sighed, remembering all the times he made his team do dangerous drills.

'You know, I'm sure Hans would love it if you joined us,' Clemson suddenly piped up, throwing his friend a smirk.

'Well, I... Skipper is probably very busy...' the puffin found himself floundering for words as the penguin fixed him with a steady stare.

'Alright then. At least I won't have to hold back,' Skipper finally decided, throwing a wing-punch at his old rival who barely managed to duck out of the way.

Julien gave a worried shout as Clemson slipped back into the habitat, wiping blood off his lip. The king was off his throne and across the grass, with Mort trailing behind him.

'Did you get into a fight?' Maurice rushed to the juice bar and pulled out the healing spray, before joining the others crowded around their queen.

'Huh? It wasn't really a fight. Hans, Skipper and I were sparring and Hans got in a lucky punch. I'm perfectly fine. Just going to be sore for a bit,' Clemson admitted, stretching his back as his mate continued to frantically check him over.

'The bossy penguin and the bright-beaked bird did this to you? I will be punishing them most severely,' Julien swore, growling under his breath.

'I'm not a delicate flower, you know. I'm a trained... um, that is to say, I'm used to rough sparring. Besides, I gave as good as I got,' Clemson smirked, chuckling to himself.

'Skipper? Hans? My goodness! Did you two get run over by an elephant?' Kowalski rushed for his first aid supplies as the pair waddled over to the base opening.

'That lemur is feisty. I wouldn't want to take him on in a real fight,' Skipper sighed, cradling his aching wing. At least it wasn't broken.

'Who do you think taught him those moves?' Hans retorted, leaning over the water to see examine his swollen eye.

'Aaah! What happened to you?' Private threw himself at Skipper, jumping back when the penguin leader gave a yelp of pain.

'So, same time tomorrow?' Hans turned to grin at the penguin.

'Make it the day after, and you've got a deal. Careful, Kowalski,' Skipper turned back to his men and hid a smile from his rival. The leader could barely wait to get back into the ring. And next time, he'd show them a thing or two.

...tbc...

Note: Next chapter... "Matchmaker"