Cascading
[Continued Series: Cascading, Part One]
The meteor was silent. Everyone was asleep, thanks to the dark and the intense quiet that shrouded the hunk of rock, hurtling through deep space at a speed roughly equitable to the speed of light.
And yet, somehow, the dark and the silence kept Rose awake.
She sat up in bed, only having been on the small slice of Skaia for a little while now, roughly a week, and even now she had trouble sleeping. She got up tentatively, her room little more than a small chamber for study, hollowed out of its scientific equipment and left with a bed and a dressing screen for her to change into her clothes, though she rarely changed out of her Seer outfit.
She slipped off her shoes and got to her feet, shuddering and wiggling her toes against the intensely cold slab of metal that made up the floor. She padded out of her room and into the hall, quiet aside from the sound of a light wind around the meteor that came from their supernatural speed. She made her way down the hall and into the communal chamber they shared. Things were strewn about in little semblance of order, though each person had a pile of their own. Dave had his pile of shitty swords and various Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff artifacts, Kanaya had her clothes and various sewing utensils, Terezi's scalemates were piled on and around a group of cans that was slowly becoming a flourishing town, and Rose's own things, a book and various other items she'd found around the meteor, sat quietly on a table.
She moved over to them, thumbing through the thick tome and smiling idly, absorbing the information within.
"Look at that Lalonde grin." She jumped, spinning and touching her side, where her Thorns were safely tucked into her Seer garb. Dave threw his hands up. "Hey, sorry, just got up for some juice."
"Sorry," she sighed, turning back to her book. "It's… harder to see things on this meteor. I haven't gotten used to using my powers in this atmosphere yet."
"No fuckin' joke," Dave replied, moving to the fridge to grab a bottle of apple juice and popping off the lid. "I tried traveling a few minutes into the future the other day and the damn meteor was long gone, and I was just sitting like a chump in deep space, getting probed by Cthulhu proboscis." Rose frowned.
"So you remained still, but the meteor moved on and your time powers didn't allow you to move with it?"
"I guess," he replied with a shrug. He yawned and stretched. "Fuck, man. I'm so damn tired and it's hard falling asleep with that stupid clown in the damned walls."
"You're having trouble sleeping too?"
"Well, I mean like, not really trouble sleeping per se, but like." She moved forward swiftly, grabbing his shades. "Whoa hey not fucking cool." She studied his eyes, and the dark circles under them.
"You haven't been sleeping either."
"Fine, no, not really," he replied, snatching his glasses and regaining his cool demeanor. "It's a bit difficult. I'm used to the city life. Always sirens and breaking glass and Bro throwing puppets all up in my business. It's only been a week since we left home. Not used to it."
"I'm used to the cursing of my mother and the soft patter of rain," Rose said, closing her eyes. "She used to work late, on God only knows what, sometimes breaking wine glasses or other glass objects. The occasional flash of lightning lulled me to sleep with its rhythmic pulse, my plush wizard dolls in my arms. I miss it."
"Me too," Dave muttered. "I mean. Not the shitty wizard part obviously. Because that'd be fucking weird. I didn't have dolls or anything."
"You didn't sleep with anything? Lil Cal, perhaps?"
"What? Fuck no. The only things in that damn house were smuppets, Lil Cal, and Bro, and I didn't want any of that in my bed."
"Oh? You sure you didn't drift off to sleep like a babe, with the imagery of the close at hand phallic dolls your brother so lovingly sewed for you?"
"Shut up," he smirked, shoving her.
"I'd almost think that you liked it more because it was your brother's gift. Someone close to you perhaps?"
"Hey, I said shut up," he replied, rubbing his arm. "That's fuckin' weird. You're my sister too, you know."
"I know." Silence filled the room for a pregnant moment, neither looking one another in the eyes. "I miss having something to hold at night." Dave was silent. "Sometimes mother would come into my room when she thought I was sleeping and kiss my head, tell me she loved me, and hold me. I thought that she was being facetious, and knew that I was awake but… I don't think she did."
"Yeah," Dave said softly.
"Hold me," she said suddenly, turning to him.
"Huh-?"
"Let's go to bed. I want to be held. We'll both fall asleep better."
"Whoa, wait, I dunno if that's-"
"Please," she said softly. He scratched his neck, looking around.
"Rose… You're basically my sister, you know that?"
"I know." She looked into his sunglasses, hoping that she was meeting his eyes. Finally he sighed, shaking his head.
"Fine. Fine, let's go." She stood, following behind him to his room, which was similar to hers but instead of a bed he simply had a mountain of comforters and sheets on the ground, which he appeared to have nestled into like a nest. "Sorry about not having a bed or anything."
"It's fine," she said, slipping into the covers. He opened his mouth to say something, then promptly shut it, climbing in after her. "What were you going to say?" she asked, resting her hand on his chest, her face against his shoulder.
"Nothing," he grunted, arm wrapped around her shoulder.
"You can tell me," she said, looking up at him and tugging away his sunglasses.
"Yeah, I know. Like. It's just that these sheets get hella hot at night and I usually don't sleep in my Knight getup."
"Oh."
"Right." There was a pause. "But, obviously if you're here I can keep it on."
"Of course. Modesty and all that."
"Yup." Another pause, heavy and full of meaning. Dave finally gave a groaning sigh, untangling them briefly and beginning to tug his shirt off over his head as Rose slipped out of her Seer's dress, leaving just her orange bra and panties, returning to her spot against Dave's skin as he finished slipping out of his pants, his record-decorated boxers the only remaining clothing. "Orange, though? Really?" he asked, his tone already slower and sleepier.
"Hmm?"
"Your p… underwear," he replied formally. "It's orange. I expected black, maybe purple."
"No. After I started wearing my Seer outfit, I began to like orange and yellow. Maybe I was always meant to anyway."
"Maybe," he said, resting his own face in her hair. She nuzzled his neck, clinging tight against his body, feeling his taut skin against her own, trying to control her breathing. She'd only ever had a human that wasn't her mother within touching distance for a week, and now she was cuddled up against her long-time best friend and ectobiological brother, feeling his heart beat in his neck, smelling his natural musk and trying to contain hormones she shouldn't feel. "Is this weird?" he muttered.
"No. Is it weird for you?" she asked.
"I dunno," he shrugged. "I kind of have a boner." She snorted and shook her head.
"Is it from my devilishly good looking body? I'm, very likely, the first female you've ever had so close to you. Why, might I even tread so far as to think you're a virgin?"
"Yeah, actually."
"I-…oh."
"What?"
"I expected more of a response than that. Or a denial."
"Nah. It's all cool. Me and bro lived in that apartment forever, like a damn sausage-fest. Sometimes he took me to, like, the store and stuff, so I obviously saw other people, and I had the internet so there was obviously the choice lady on my flat screen whenever I got some Dave time, but otherwise nope. You're it, Lalonde."
"I… see."
"Wait. Don't tell me YOU'RE a virgin?"
"I don't believe that we were talking about me."
"Holy shit you are! This is some serious news. Superbabe Lalonde hasn't ever touched a stud before? That's crazy."
"My story's similar to yours. A few ventures into the outside world was all my mother ever provided."
"Huh." There was a long silence and Rose could hear Dave's heartbeat begin to beat faster. Or was that her own? "So you've never kissed a guy either?"
"No," she replied softly.
"Me either. Or a girl," he added with a grin. She rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but Dave's hand was on her chin, pulling her in for a kiss. Her skin prickled and stung with goosebumps, her body shivering and reacting violently to the new, intense feeling. Her lips pressed against his, mashing in an almost desperate manner, trying to elicit the same thing from him, eventually getting a groan that forced her body to calm down, breaking the kiss.
"Oh," she said simply.
"Yeah," he replied. He tugged her to her chest, and remained silent, Rose feeling her own heart pounding away in her head, her loins on fire and dripping wet, but realizing with frustration that Dave's breathing was slowing, lulling him to sleep. Surprisingly, his warmth, closeness, and the sound of his breath was making her rather exhausted as well, and as she vowed to get more of the intense feelings from him, she found her own eyes closing, forcing her into unconsciousness.
And thus ends my own hiatus of self-pity and wallowing in the lack of motivation to keep me going. Once again, the Grand Shipping Challenge lives! And this time, my promises of a continued and scheduled update are backed with my having at least three stories backlogged.
If you direct your attention to the Table of Contents (or Chapter One), you'll see that I've updated it and changed some things. There are One-Shots and Continuous Series, and no longer will the pairings in a chapter be ruined by the chapter title! Instead, you can go straight to the new chapter and enjoy their explicit tales on your own, without fear of seeing who you might peek in on. Additionally, the Table of Contents won't be updated until the following Saturday (the same time the next day) so you don't have to worry about accidentally reading who's up next on the Table of Contents either!
You can see the new schedule on the Table of Contents, and that'll be where I update any news. I wanted to pump this story out before Saturday rolled around, but after this, stories will be posted at 12PM Central Time on Fridays, starting with next Friday: October 31st! Prepare for a spooky installation to your favorite, awful smutty fanfiction~!