Fighting The Tide

Chapter Five: The Evening Part One

Peepers has a plan, and Wander and Hater had some relaxation time together. Let's see how we all do on the same ship together.

I'm so happy everyone enjoyed the last chapter, both Peepers' plot and the nice time our sillies had together. I really appreciate the nice comments I got! This chapter is going to have some more intimacy, since neither Hater nor Wander were quite ready to stop when they did.

And you got this chapter super early because I could not stop writing it!

I hope you like it!

Supper was pretty awkward, as Hater should have figured it would be.

The two of them had only been walking down the corridor for a few minutes when they ran into Peepers and Sylvia, who were quite obviously looking for them, not that it should be any of their business what he and Wander had been up to. Still, he found himself glad they'd called a halt when they did, or the meeting would have been significantly more awkward, and possibly full of lightning bolts.

He was still feeling a little uncomfortable from everything that had happened.

His body seemed to have calmed down for the most part, but his bones still felt a little sensitive when they brushed against his cloak, and his mind kept flashing back to their most recent activities; replaying Wander's reactions, his shivering and the noises he'd made, and the feeling of his body twisting in Hater's lap.

Whenever those thoughts surfaced, Hater had to put a lid on them quickly, look away from Wander and think intensely about something else. He had no desire to have an embarrassing reaction in front of his commander or the zbornak.

Wander had seemed to recover faster, and he was bouncing around just like normal, which at least helped to ground Hater a little, if only because he was annoyed at the nomad for acting so casual after everything that had just happened, as if he hadn't been enjoying what they were doing just as much as Hater had.

Peepers reported on the state of the ship; apparently, they'd taken some superficial damage, and there were some watchdogs currently outside the ship repairing it after their escape, but they'd managed to avoid anything too critical or expensive. Hater had rather expected his commander to try and lecture him on his plan again, but Peepers didn't bring it up for the moment. In fact, he seemed to have calmed down significantly. He didn't even ask what Hater and Wander had been doing together, which was a relief because Hater hadn't thought to come up with an appropriate lie.

Sylvia had seemed slightly suspicious, and she kept shooting glances at him and Wander during Peepers' report. Once he was finished, she actually grabbed Wander and hustled him off to a private room for a while before the two of them came back, after which she seemed a little calmer, but still suspicious.

She'd wanted the two of them to head out, and hadn't seemed too happy when Wander announced that he was making dinner for everyone, but Wander was pretty hard to say 'no' to, so she ended up backing down.

That was good. Hater wasn't ready for Wander to leave again, even as uncomfortable as he was feeling right now.

After that, things settled down for an hour or so. Wander headed off to the kitchen, and Hater made a beeline for his room, where he spent a little while relaxing and playing some of his video games. He really felt like he needed it, and he was feeling much calmer when Peepers called to inform him, in a somewhat pained, long-suffering way, that Wander had finished supper.

It was strange to have other people in his private dining room. Peepers sat on his right, looking uncomfortable and somehow sitting at attention, and Sylvia picked a spot a couple of seats further down the long table on his left side. Peepers must have moved some chairs in from somewhere, since usually there was just the one.

There was a steady stream of watchdogs in the corridor outside the door, chattering and laughing and carrying full plates from the kitchen to somewhere else in the ship. Hater should have guessed when Wander offered to make supper, he meant for everyone. Peepers' eyelid kept twitching as the soldiers passed by, and Hater figured he was making a mental list of who to reprimand once supper was over.

Once they were all seated, Wander carried in the plates. Hater hadn't thought to find out what the nomad was making. It smelled amazing anyway, which seemed to be a given when it came to Wander's cooking.

Wander had made salad, lasagna and garlic bread. He set their plates down in front of them before settling into the chair on Hater's left, Sylvia ruffling his hair as he sat down. Hater realized he was very hungry at the same time; he hadn't eaten much for breakfast because he'd been so nervous about his plan, and he didn't wait for the others to start eating before he dug into his slice.

It was excellent, of course, and it was nice to be able to eat without having to pretend not to enjoy the food because Wander had made it, since everyone in the room knew he was going out with the wayfarer anyway.

It was a little distracting hearing the scrape of utensils of the others as they ate. Hater was used to eating alone, and he still wasn't all that comfortable having other people around. Nobody was really talking, except for some comments from Sylvia at the beginning praising Wander for the food, and he suspected the zbornak and Peepers were uncomfortable as well. Wander, being Wander, was probably the only relaxed person at the table, and the only one who seemed to feel like talking. He chattered happily about some of the planets he and Sylvia had visited recently, and didn't seem bothered that nobody was really responding.

After the edge had been taken off his hunger, about halfway through the meal, Hater glanced over again at Wander, who was munching happily on his salad. Wander didn't seem to have given himself any lasagna, which Hater supposed made sense since the dish pretty clearly had meat in it. The nomad met his eye when he looked and gave him a wink.

Hater looked away, over at an uninteresting part of the room, Wander's wink successfully reminding him of their activities earlier in the day.

He took a rather large bite of his garlic bread and paused as he felt something rubbing gently against his leg, starting at his tibia, then moving down towards his foot. His eyes shot back to Wander, to find the nomad sitting rather low in his seat. He tilted his head when Hater looked back at him, smile widening.

Hater felt his cheekbones heating and hurriedly swallowed his mouthful, washing it down with a big gulp from his water glass. It did feel nice, but it was also making it really hard for him to act casual. He thought about moving his leg away, figuring Wander would stop if he did, but part of him didn't want to.

Wander's foot wiggled against his and Hater pulled his eyes away again, desperately trying not to think about certain things. What was wrong with the furball? Why was he doing this here, with Peepers and Sylvia only feet away?

There was also something strange about this situation, besides the fact that Wander was being weird and doing it at all. There was something familiar about the way Wander's shoe danced against his. Hater's mind, urgently trying to find another focus for its thoughts, suddenly flashed back to an event almost a year ago. A few things that had confused him that night became starkly clear. He stood abruptly, knocking his chair over, one finger pointing at the nomad like he was brandishing a dagger.

"It was you!" he accused. Wander looked confused, so Hater elaborated. "You were the one playing footsie under the table with me on that date at Chez Shmancy!"

There was an abrupt, pregnant silence around the table, and Hater was suddenly aware of Peepers and Sylvia staring at him, their knives and forks frozen in their hands.

That was probably not the best thing for him to yell out at the table with no context.

"Oh." Wander looked slightly embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and chuckled somewhat self-consciously. When he looked up again, his smile had wilted a little, which seemed to dampen Hater's indignation slightly. He lowered his hand, crossing his arms instead and pretending he didn't notice the stares.

"I'm sorry, Hater," Wander offered sincerely. "I wasn't tryin' ta mislead you back then. I just wanted ta make sure ya had a nice time."

Sylvia gave Wander a look. She didn't seem too pleased at the revelation herself. Right. She had been the other person on the date. He'd almost married her actually, though he wasn't even sure now why he'd wanted to. After going on a couple of dates with Wander, that long ago date seemed dull and forced by comparison.

Of course, he hadn't known it was her or Wander at the time. His commander had waited until afterward to fill him in on that little detail.

Hater didn't bother to glance over at Peepers. He knew what expression the watchdog would be wearing at the moment.

Looking down at the little furry alien, Hater sighed. He wasn't really angry at Wander, he supposed, or Sylvia either for that matter. Looking back on it now, they'd probably just been trying to stop him from blowing the planet up. He used to do that a lot to make himself feel better when his attempted dates didn't work out. He couldn't really blame them for fooling him, although he had felt pretty stupid, and been really angry at the time.

"Whatever," he grumbled. Picking his chair back up, he slumped down in it, kicking his foot at a table leg half-heartedly. There was an uncomfortable silence. Wander's eyes fell to his plate, thumbs twiddling together unhappily. Hater felt a twinge of guilt and huffed, annoyed. Wander was clearly feeling guilty, which Hater suddenly realized he didn't want. He thought again about the fake date, chewing on his lower jaw. Now that he was going over it in his mind, there was something about it that didn't make sense, aside from all the obvious problems. He played with his fork, trying not to look too closely at Wander.

"Why wasn't it you?" he muttered.

"Hmmm?" Wander looked up at him attentively, fingers stilling on the tabletop.

"On the date." Hater flicked at the tines of the fork, glancing at Wander and then away again. "Why did Sylvia go on the date instead of you?"

Sylvia snorted from her seat on Wander's other side.

"Isn't that the question?" she muttered, but Hater ignored her. He was still trying not to look too intently at Wander.

"We-ell…" Wander leaned slightly towards him. He didn't try to hold Hater's hand, just rested his own on the table next to it, as though in invitation. "That didn't really seem fair to ya, Hatey. We were just tryin' ta give ya a fun night out, an', well, I liked you an awful lot, even back then. I didn't wanna take you out under false pretences. Might've been a little hard to say 'goodbye' at the end if ya know what I mean." He chuckled softly again, eyes going down to the table, then back up again. "'Course, I guess I ended up doin' that a little when you were gonna marry m' ol' gal Sylvia. Ran outa options, as you could say."

Hater felt a bit of something loosen in his chest at Wander's words. He almost wanted to chuckle, if he wasn't still feeling embarrassed and slightly uncomfortable. If he'd played his cards right, he actually could have ended up marrying Wander ages ago. Of course, he'd had no idea it was the nomad dressed up in a poofy pink dress with all the accessories, and if he'd found out, it just would have made him furious at the time.

Wander had actually looked pretty good in that dress. Hater would never have guessed it was him.

At the time, Hater had dismissed Wander's 'confession' outright, simply using it to bolster his own confidence. If one pretty girl had been out there pining for him, surly there were lots of others. At least, that had been his reasoning until Peepers unceremoniously informed him of the identities of both the 'mystery woman,' and his fiancé, which had managed to bring that confidence crashing back down significantly, as well as intensifying his hatred for the two nomads.

Wander still looked guilty, eyes downcast and hat drooping.

Hater sighed. The slim, orange hand had still been resting next to him on the table. Now Wander made a move to withdraw it, and Hater reached out and took it, stopping the movement.

He didn't look over at Wander again, choosing to stare at his mostly empty plate instead.

"Yeah, well, that's fine, I guess," he said gruffly. "Just as long as it wasn't because of a stupid reason or anything."

He gave the furry fingers a brief squeeze, feeling Wander squeeze his hand back afterward, and somehow that helped feel better.

Peepers cleared his throat, steepling his fingers together as Hater looked over at him.

"Soooo, now that that's been…resolved, who wants to hear a detailed damage report of the skull-ship?"

"Grop yes, please!" Sylvia responded immediately. "I would be so interested to hear about literally anything else!"

Hater glared, but didn't say anything. It hadn't been his idea to play out this scene in front of the two of them, or invite them to eat with him either, as a matter of fact.

As Peepers launched into his report, complete with holographic diagrams projected on top of the table, Hater felt the furry hand give his fingers another small squeeze. When he Peered covertly back at the nomad, he saw that Wander still looked a little sheepish, but much less guilty than he had been.

"Thanks fer understandin', Hater," he whispered softly.

Hater didn't quite know what to say. He just hadn't wanted Wander to beat himself up over it, especially when he hadn't meant any harm. He'd just been trying to help, like normal, and that was just Wander. He didn't seem capable of walking into a situation without trying to help. It didn't seem worth being angry at him for, even if it could sometimes be annoying. He knew it used to be one of the traits of Wander's that bothered him the most, but now he wasn't even sure why.

That date was still a pretty unpleasant memory when he thought about it, but he didn't really blame anyone for the situation anymore, he supposed. Maybe it would have stung more if he wasn't currently dating someone. It made it easier to look back at that evening objectively. He found himself giving a rather subtle nod in leu of an answer, knowing Wander would probably pick up on it. He ran his thumb gently over the furry fingers that were locked with his. Then he reluctantly turned his attention back to Peepers, well into his incomprehensible explanation by now, and took another bite of his lasagna.

He ate one handed, however, as the meal continued. His other hand was occupied.

Wander had a plan.

He'd been thinking about it for a while, actually, ever since their first real date on the skull-ship, but now seemed like a good time to put it into action.

He felt like he should do something nice for Hater. His buddy had had a tough day, and Wander didn't think he'd been helping.

He'd just been trying to have some fun with his boyfriend during supper, and he'd thought it would be something Hater would enjoy. He hadn't meant to remind Hater of that old date, or to make him feel should maybe have waited until Syl and Commander Peepers weren't around.

At least Hater seemed to be feeling better about the whole thing now, and he hadn't seemed angry with Wander, though it had clearly been something he didn't enjoy remembering.

Sylvia had been pretty annoyed at the recollection as well, and she had confronted him about a couple of things after supper when he went to wash the dishes. She hadn't realized at the time what he was doing under the table, and Wander supposed he'd put her on the spot when he hadn't intended to. He knew he could get pulled into things easily, and go a little farther than he should sometimes, and he had apologized for putting her in an awkward situation. That had seemed to help, and they'd ended up giving each other a very welcome hug in the kitchen, as well as spending some time chatting together as they cleaned up.

Sylvia also seemed a little tired from everything that had happened today, but she had ended up agreeing to spend the night, once Wander explained it was important. She hadn't seemed too keen on it, but had gone along with it anyway, something Wander was always grateful for. She had gone to ask Commander Peepers if they could use one of the guest rooms once the dishes were finished, and Wander had headed out to get started on his plan.

On their past dates, Wander had been mostly trying to let Hater lead when they started kissing. He didn't want to go too fast for the skeleton lord, or do something Hater wasn't comfortable with, but he was wondering if there was something he could do to help Hater feel special, a treat of some kind that would be nice for Hater without pushing him into anything he wasn't ready for.

Wander had noticed that Hater seemed to initiate kissing sometimes instead of talking about his feelings, and their last few make-outs had seemed very 'd also noticed that Hater seemed to get uncomfortable partway through. He'd get shy and awkward and embarrassed.

He wondered if Hater would be alright with Wander taking the lead this time, and starting something a little more purposefully. It should be alright as long as Wander was careful, as long as he went fairly slowly and made sure Hater was comfortable before starting anything. He was happy to go at his buddy's pace, and to stop if Hater wanted to.

His hat had thoughtfully provided him with what he needed, and Wander had slipped into Hater's private bathroom to get ready. He didn't want to run into Syl, Commander Peepers or the other watchdogs in the hallways on the way to Hater's room.

Wander took a deep breath. He was feeling pretty nervous, and he hoped Hater would like his idea. The overlord had seemed interested in doing more kissing tonight.

He heard Hater's door open and took a quiet step forward, peering through the crack in the washroom door to confirm that it was, indeed, the overlord himself.

Wander put one hand on his thin chest, feeling his heart beating quickly with anticipation.

He took a few more deep breaths until he could feel himself calm, then he pushed the door open and stepped out into Hater's bedroom.

Hater pushed open his door and stomped inside.

It had been a long, long day, and he felt both mentally and emotionally exhausted. He also felt wired, wound up from everything that had happened, both the good and the bad.

Once supper had ended, Wander had whisked the dishes away, and Sylvia had gone with him. Hater had rather expected Peepers to try and talk him out of his plan again, but the watchdog had merely excused himself with a sharp salute, and a comment about making sure the soldiers weren't slacking.

Then Hater was alone.

He spent a bit of time wandering around in the corridors, looking at the rows of teeth, red eyes and the other decorations and just thinking about things.

Finally, he decided to head back to his room and maybe play some more videogames. Wander could find him if he wanted to.

Now, looking around his messy room, Hater felt restless. He was still thinking about the intimate moment he'd shared with Wander earlier. The nomad had said they could do some more kissing after supper. Did Wander still remember he'd said that, or had he gotten too caught up in cleaning or helping miscellaneous watchdogs? Hater might have tried calling him, but that would mean calling Sylvia, and he wasn't about to ask her if Wander was still coming to his room this evening. Wander really needed to get a phone already.

Hater sat on the edge of his bed, and that was when the door to his private bathroom swung open.

"Evenin', Hater, hope 'm not intruding."

Hater turned, then his jaw dropped, hitting the floor with a rattle. He fumbled to pick it up, but he couldn't tear his eyes away from what he was seeing.

Wander was standing in the doorway, hands clasped behind himself. His hat was off, and he was wearing the long, blond wig Hater thought he had seen before.

He was also wearing a short, pink dress with frilled shoulder straps. The skirt came down to just above his knees, gauzy and clinging slightly, and he had taken off his shoes and socks, so he was barefoot.

Hater clumsily fumbled for his jaw, hinging it back in place.

"Wander?!" he managed. It was really the only word his mouth seemed capable of forming. Even then it came out as more of a croak.

Wander smiled coyly.

"D'ya like it, Hatey? I thought we could have a bit of fun tonight, if ya feel like it o'course." He winked, tilting his head slightly so the blond locks fell over one shoulder.

Hater felt slightly stunned. He hadn't really thought about what Wander had in mind for tonight, but even if he had, this wouldn't have been something that had ever entered his skull.

"Uh, yeah," he muttered somewhat dazedly.

Wander's smile widened. He stepped through the door and walked across to Hater. He seemed to be putting some extra sway into his hips, and Hater's eyes seemed to be moving back and forth as he followed the movement.

It felt vaguely surreal. He knew it was Wander. He'd even seen Wander in a dress before, when he'd known who it was. This was different, maybe because Wander had worn this dress specifically for him, or maybe because of the way he was moving, the fabric clinging to his dress and the skirt flowing around his slender legs. Hater also found his eyes drawn to Wander's feet. He'd never seen the nomad barefoot before. It made him look strangely exposed, as though he was allowing Hater to be privy to something private and intimate.

He was already feeling flustered, dwelling as he had been on the kissing from Wander stopped in front of him, Hater reached out slowly, putting one hand on the furry shoulder as if to assure himself Wander was really there. Wander giggled sweetly. He reached up and took Hater's hand, which was fingering the strap of his dress, and turned his head to nuzzle against it. Hater's insides jumped. It felt like the marrow of his bones was heating up.

Wander was right at the edge of the bed, standing between Hater's legs, and Hater felt frozen, almost as though he'd break the spell if he moved.

Slowly, Wander leaned forward, placing one hand on each of Hater's thighs. Hater could feel the warmth of them through his cloak. The nomad tilted his head again, the blond hair seeming to frame his face and the curve of his neck. His movements were slow and deliberate, as though giving Hater time to pull away if he wanted to, but Hater had no desire to move, and probably couldn't have managed it in any case.

Wander reached up then, gently pulling himself up into Hater's lap. Hater reached out a rather belated hand to help, feeling it settle naturally on the nomad's back, strands of the wig tickling his fingers. He could feel the gauzy material of Wander's dress, and the softness of the fur underneath it.

Wander's warmth in his lap almost made him catch his breath, his lower hip bones already reacting as though they were still back in the storage room. That was probably going to be a problem soon, but Hater found he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. When Wander reached his soft arms up to wrap them around his neck, Hater found himself responding, reaching down slightly to meet Wander's lips with his.

Wander had once again succeeded in driving him absolutely crazy, but Hater found he didn't care, at least for the moment.

Hope you enjoyed!

I had a lot of fun this chapter, as you can probably tell. This story really wants me to write it right now, so it keeps poking at me until I do.

Sorry to leave you with a cliffhanger. I'll try to make the next chapter worth the wait.

I did not plan to have an unexpected discussion of The Date. It just sort of happened that way. I hope nobody minded. I know it has been stated that the episode reason Wander didn't go on the date was because there would be no conflict, as he and Hater would have a great time, so I wanted to give him an actual story reason for not doing it. Please don't mind all my head cannons lol.

It may be slightly longer until the next update. And then it will either be this story, or The New Galaxy. Probably this story the way things are going.

See you then!