A / N : Okay, as of this chapter, the story has gone up to M rating. As I said, there shouldn't be anything really, crazy graphic, but I just feel like M gives me more freedom to do what I want with the story. I don't want the whole thing taken down because I said 'fuck' once, you know? I left the last chapter up for as long as I could to warn people, but I'm updating now, so if anyone didn't get the message - sorry, not my fault!
Also, I guess no-one knows Avenue Q? Huh. Go figure . . .
Her wedding ring hit the smooth surface of the conference table and fell still. Leela stared at it, and then stared at Fry staring at it.
Haha. This is almost funny.
"You know, I do feel better," she announced. She stood up, stretching the cramp from her muscles. Those overalls weighed a ton, but it wasn't that. She felt so much lighter now, even if she knew it couldn't last. She turned back to Fry, who seemed to have choked on his Slurm – he was mopping it frantically off his sleeve.
"I'll just take a coupla hours off to clear my head," she said. "That's all I need."
Just a few hours off and she'd feel stronger. She'd be able to love Lars again without feeling so goddamn confused. His talk about potential baby names wouldn't spark off a hideous, gut-wrenching bout of insomnia. Things would go back to normal. All she needed was to step out of the zone for a while and clear her head.
"I don't . . . feel so good," Nibbler declared from the roof of the Planet Express burped, made a sound halfway between a hiccup and a squeak, and then keeled over sideways.
Her pet bounced three times before he hit the floor, and Leela winced each time. She hurried over immediately to pick him up.
"Poor widdle guy," she crooned. "Is it tough not being all-knowing for once? Aw. I bet it is . . ."
"Leela!" Fry protested. "You're not taking a break! You're doing what you always do!"
"As opposed to what, exactly?"
"I dunno. Go nuts! Like this."
To illustrate his point, Fry started doing what Leela vaguely remembered was called the Hustle. He picked up the blowtorch and threw it up in the air, whistling, and then caught it and aimed it at the ship like a can of graffiti, melting a clumsy smiley face onto the paintwork.
"You do know that's coming out of your wages," Leela said sharply.
"So what? Come on, live a little! Do something impulsive!"
"Fine! Fine, I . . ." Leela cast about for inspiration and eventually settled on switching on the sound system. At random. She pointed."It's not even my playlist, see?"
"Leela, that sucks."
She scowled. "Hey, Fry, you know what would be really impulsive? Throwing that blowtorch at your head."
Fry gulped. "Okay then! Baby steps!" He paused at her expression. "What? What'd I say?"
Leela groaned, kneading her forehead. She could feel a headache building behind her eyeball.
"Forget it." She sighed and cast about for a distraction. The music wasn't helping. "What in Robot Hell are we listening to?"
"And I'll integrate you to my servers, and I-I-I-I-I will incorporate you-u-u-u-u . . ."
Fry grinned. "It's the soundtrack to that goopy girl movie Calculon was in. You put on Bender's playlist. Hehe."
Leela shuddered. "That can't be right. Maybe it's Amy's. Or Zoidberg's. I know it's Calculon, but even Bender would be nauseated by this."
Fry's grin widened. "Nuh-uh. It's Bender's favorite movie. Star-crossed vampire robot lovers on a doomed venture to the planet of the apes. The jumbo space ape tears the ship in two and they're about to fall into a black hole . . ." - he waved his arms, re-enacting the scene - "so Calculon grabs IB-y and starts singing this junk at her, and instead of telling him to shut the hell up and quit being so mushy, she's all 'Ooh, Calculon, mwah mwah mwah'," - Fry mimed wide-eyed adoration - "and he's all 'Near, far, wherever you are, I-I-I-I will incorporate you-u-u-u-u . . .'"
Fry, lost in his re-enactment, grabbed Leela around the waist and reeled her in, tearing at his hair and crooning the lines in Calculon's usual overblown style.
"And then schwoop! - the black hole sucks her up and the gorilla grabs Calculon and he's like "NOOOO – mmmphh."
Calculon's cry of despair was cut off with good reason – Leela had chosen that moment to seize the front of Fry's jacket, pull him towards her, and kiss him right on his blabbering lips.
Fry froze. To his credit, he pulled away almost immediately, staggering backwards in shock.
"Bu – bu – but . . . you . . ."
"Fry, shut up," Leela muttered.
She stepped forward. Fry stepped back again, until he hit the side of the ship and realized he'd backed himself into a corner. He held up his hands in a panic, but when Leela kissed him again he didn't fight her off. He stiffened against her as though electrified at first, but as her lips moved against his, he started to reciprocate. It was slow and dazed, but Leela would take what she could get.
He still tasted like Slurm.
Lars didn't touch the stuff, but Fry was and always had been addicted to it. It had been years since she'd had any reason to kiss him, but that was what she had always remembered – the sweet tang of Slurm tingling on her tongue. It suited him. It was sweet and juvenile and just a bit wrong, and it was addictive. That was Fry alright. It was probably unhealthy, and she was bound to regret it later, but this was turning out to be like opening a carton of ice-cream – she'd started off with such good intentions, but then she'd taken the first bite, and known she'd end up finishing the whole tub. And maybe opening another one. Leela would never have been so reckless – Leela knew to stick to her diet. But she wasn't Leela, was she? She was Leela-on-a-break, a Leela who did whatever the hell she wanted, without responsibility. And right now, she wanted Fry.
His heart was hammering beneath his shirt. He was terrified, she realized with an unwelcome stab of guilt. She pulled back.
"You can touch me, you know," she murmured.
Fry shook his head.
"I don't get it," he croaked. "You don't want me. You never wanted me . . ."
Oh, lord. She'd spent years trying to convince him their sexual tension was all in his head, and he'd chosen the most inconvenient moment to start believing her. But of course he had. Fry was hopeless at relationships, and she had married someone else, which would have convinced anyone there was no hope. He had never been relationship material, she'd made that point clear over and over again. It was a shame she'd been less clear on the subject of her secret, sordid attraction to him.
A justifiable, prudent shame, maybe, but still a shame.
"What if I wanted you now? What if I wanted you . . . just for one night?" she purred in his ear.
Fry swallowed hard, and Leela realized, with another stab of shame, that he was shaking.
She wasn't being fair. She should stop this now.
These were all rational thoughts, but they were being drowned out by something that wasn't even want. It was need. It was something savage, a pull in her stomach, a surge of adrenaline that kicked at her every moment they weren't in contact. She needed Fry. And he wanted her. All she had to do was push the right buttons . . .
You're really going to hate yourself for this tomorrow, a little voice whispered in her head.
Leela ignored it, and decided to concentrate on pushing buttons. She leaned in to Fry again and pressed her lips gently to his.
"Just once then," she whispered. Fry moaned against her mouth. She breathed in and hooked her fingers into the waistband of his jeans. A muscle jumped in his abdomen as her hand brushed the skin and he shuddered, but when Leela went to remove her hand his arm jerked up. He seized her by the wrist. He'd cracked.
Leela hardly had a moment to savor her victory. Fry pulled her in sharply, and kissed her hungrily as his other hand crumpled the bottom of her tank top, seeking skin. He moaned desperately.
"Just once . . ." he said hoarsely. "It's not so bad if it's just once?"
Leela nodded encouragingly, triumph exploding in her stomach as he strained against her. His hips bucked against her hand, and he let out another shuddering groan. "No," she agreed. "Not so bad . . ."
There was a hole in this argument, she knew, but right now she had no idea what it was.
"Okay," Fry mumbled, and pressed his lips flush to hers.