Fighting The Tide
Chapter Nine: The Surprise
Well, not sure how Wander got the invitation to Hater's birthday party, but he is Wander, after all, and Peepers was right that he never has trouble finding them. And it's even a real invitation this year. Let's see what happens.
Enjoy!
"No offense, buddy, but this whole thing is still weirding me out."
"How so, Sylvia?"
"Well…" Sylvia tried to choose her words carefully, even though she knew her buddy wouldn't take offence. "I know you and Hater are doing a…thing, I mean, I know you're going out with the guy, and I support you one hundred percent, but it's still a little tough to get past all this." She gestured to the letter in Wander's hands.
"Aw, Syl, it's just an invitation to Hater's birthday party, though it was awful nice of him ta send it himself this year."
"Okay, it's definitely not just an invitation." Gingerly, as though handling something unpleasant, she took the letter, examining it from a safe distance. It seemed more like a jumble of insecure rambling and boasting, some of which was uncomfortably personal, along with some rather…unfortunate doodles. "Not sure if this would be better or worse if he could draw," she muttered, turning the page this way and that. "What are these two skulls supposed to be doing?"
"Hmmm, breathin' fire, I think," Wander put in, helpfully.
Sylvia sighed, handing the paper back to him and sitting down on a tree stump.
"Well, that's a relief at least."
Wander chuckled, leaning back against another tree trunk, hands behind his head. He stared dreamily into the fire.
"Didja ever think we'd be here? That Hatey woulda come around so much an' we'd be gettin' together fer parties an' such?"
"No, no I didn't." And she still wasn't sure how it was all going to shake out in the end, although she did feel slightly better after she had had a talk with Hater. Sylvia looked at the fire as well, watching the flames dancing. "What about you, buddy?" she asked after a few minutes. "You always seemed pretty certain you and Hater could get along."
"That's true!" Wander perked up a little, smiling over at her. "An' I always figured we'd be friends eventually, but I didn't think all a' this would happen. I didn't think we'd be goin' out."
Sylvia shot him a quick glance. She still remembered Wander's amazement when he first told her about Hater kissing him. At the time, she'd been struggling just to believe it had happened, and she hadn't really thought about how Wander must be feeling, aside from him clearly being happy about the whole thing.
"How…long have you liked the bonehead anyway?" she asked quietly. "I mean, liked him liked him. I know you pretty much like everyone."
"Pretty much," Wander agreed happily. He paused, rubbing his chin with one hand as he thought. "T' be honest, I'm not really sure, Syl. Guess I didn't really think about it at first, 'cause the poor fella jus' needed some help, an' later on it didn't really seem like somethin' he'd be interested in."
"Yeah, no kidding," Sylvia muttered. Never in a million years could she have predicted this outcome. It still didn't feel quite real, though she supposed she was getting used to it at least a little. Turning serious for a moment, she shot her companion another look. "I know it hasn't been that long, and you've been pretty happy every time we've seen him, but how have things been going? Hater's been treating you properly, right?"
Because she trusted her buddy, and he had been over the moon after each time he'd seen the skeleton lord, but there was still that niggling worry at the back of her mind that said Wander had been happy with Hater even when Hater was trying to kill him, a worry that Wander would be happy if he was making Hater happy, even if he was doing something he wasn't comfortable with.
Wander smiled warmly across at her.
"He sure has, Syl," he said with a happy sigh. "I know we're still figurin' this whole thing out, an' you know Hatey; he can be a li'l shy, an' he gets worried about how he's doin' or what people 'r gonna think, an' all wrapped up in himself." His gaze drifted back to the fire, voice lowering as though he was talking to himself instead of to her. "It means a lot ta him when we're together, but I don't think he knows how ta show it, or sometimes even what he's feeling…" He trailed off for a moment, smile slipping off his face, then turned back to face her again. "I gotta help him, Syl! I help him understand how great he is, an' show him he can be happy!"
Sylvia bit back any comment she might have made about Hater not needing anyone else stroking his ego. It wasn't the time for that, not with the how Wander had just opened up to her. Besides, 'insecure' was practically the overlord's middle name. Wander probably wasn't wrong.
So instead, she pulled him in for a one-armed hug.
"You will, buddy," she assured. "But just make sure you're happy too. Just because you're helping someone, you can't forget to take care of yourself."
"Thanks, Syl." Wander gave a sniff, along with a somewhat watery smile. "An' don't worry; I've never been happier.
"So," Wander continued after a moment where the two of them gazed into the fire's crackling flames. "Ya think Hater'll like our surprise?"
Sylvia chuckled. She knew what her answer would have been a year, or even a month ago, but now…
"You know, buddy," she mused quietly, "I think he will. But Peepers is probably going to freak."
"Aw, I'm sure he'll be fine. He wants Hatey ta be happy, doesn't he?" Wander looked uncertain for a moment. "D'ya think we should call ahead an' tell him about it?"
"No." Sylvia looked away again to hide her smirk. "I'm sure the optic nerd'll get over it." She stifled a yawn. "Now, let's turn in. Tomorrow's going to be a long day."
Wander settled onto her back, snuggling into his hat, and Sylvia curled her tail around herself.
It really was a strange series of events that had brought them here, to a place where it seemed almost sane to be invited to Lord Hater's birthday party, and to not expect it to be a trap, a place where she might actually be willing to let her guard down tomorrow, despite all the times in the past that the overlord had tried to kill them both, a place where…she found herself almost trusting Hater.
She gave a snort, cuddling into herself a little more.
Like she'd said; never in a million years.
Once again, the skull-ship was a whirl of activity, as Peepers directed the watchdogs to clean and decorate for the upcoming party. The watchdog commander couldn't help thinking ruefully of his preparations last year, when he'd been so confident about his plan to lure Wander and Sylvia here so Lord Hater could use his new Doom Arena to destroy them. It had seemed like such a good present, back before he fully understood the menace they were dealing with.
After that disaster of a party, Peepers hadn't really expected Hater to even have a birthday party this year. The watchdog shuddered to recall his attempts to rescue Hater from being eaten by his own pit monster, and the subsequent raging by the overlord once he was free.
Now, Wander and Sylvia were no doubt on their way, though this time they wouldn't be walking into a trap, but rather had been actually invited, and it made Peepers' figurative hackles raise.
Not too long ago were the days when he could have been setting traps for the intruders and plotting their destruction instead of laying out a snack table and party favours for them. Even with the constant chaos of humiliations and destroyed plans, those days still seemed rosy coloured in Peepers' memories, at least compared to what he was dealing with now.
But instead, it seemed he was doomed to be the party coordinator.
Not that it was going to be a very large party, not with only two guests. Last year had been a larger affair. Peepers had wanted every soldier to witness the demise of Hater's most despised enemies, and the Doom Arena had had seats for all of them. This year would be significantly quieter. Sure, Peepers had appointed a squad of watchdogs to patrol the party, but that was solely so he wasn't outnumbered by Wander and the zbornak when they arrived. Given the latest stage of Hater's obsession, Peepers knew not to count on any help from him.
Speaking of…
The watchdog commander turned to find his boss pacing nervously back and forth. As he watched, Hater paused at the snack table, shoving a handful of chips into his mouth before pausing and straightening the bowl. He leaned against the table with an air of nonchalance that Peepers saw right through.
"Well, Peepers," Hater demanded, "is everything ready?"
"Very nearly, sir." Peepers grimaced internally, but was careful not to show it. He had to be professional about this whole thing, at least until he could put his own plans into action.
"Well, hurry up." Hater stuffed another handful of chips into his mouth, knocking the bowl askew again and speaking through a spray of crumbs. "They'll be here any minute!"
As if on cue, Peepers' communicator buzzed. He answered warily.
"Yes, Bradley. Report. Are they here?"
"Uh, yes sir, Commander Peepers, but, um…" the lookout trailed off for a moment before continuing. "There's something kind of weird…"
Peepers rolled his eye. Between Hater and the watchdogs, he sometimes felt like he was the only rational being on board, something he didn't expect to change once their 'guests' arrived.
"That's fine, Bradley," he cut off the soldier. "They're always weird. Just show them in and don't let them out of your sight. Lord Hater and I will be there directly."
He closed the communicator, cutting off what he was sure was more whining from the poor excuse for a soldier. He was not interested in listening to whatever weird thing Wander had decided to do now, especially when he'd started having to confiscate pictures of the furry pest from more than a few soldiers over the past few weeks.
Replacing the device on his hip and taking a deep breath, he turned briskly to Hater.
"Well, sir, shall we go and greet them?"
"Um, right, let's do that. Hater wiped his greasy hand on the tablecloth, then turned and marched out of the room, Peepers taking an extra moment to order a watchdog to sweep the floor and straighten the snack table again before following.
He wasn't sure why Hater was nervous all of a sudden, but he didn't really have time to deal with it at the was anticipating a long night having to entertain their former most hated enemies.
With one more shudder, a small one, Peepers headed down the corridor towards the ship's mouth. It was time to get the party started.
Hater hadn't expected to be so nervous; he hadn't felt that way at all while he was coming up with ideas for the party or writing and mailing the invitation, and there was no reason why he should feel that way now. After all, Wander was his boyfriend now, and he was Wander. Whatever Hater planned, whatever he wanted to do, Wander would go along with it, and enjoy it, of that he was certain. If Wander could have a great time in a fully functioning Doom Arena while the Greatest Villain in the Galaxy was trying to kill him, he would certainly have fun at this party.
Hater shouldn't be nervous, but he was.
Maybe it was because of the dreams.
Hater hadn't seen Wander in over a week, and the last night they'd spent together had been amazing, even with his own nerves and insecurities getting in the way for what felt like the thousandth time. And he'd had trouble getting the events of that night out of his head.
After Wander had left the next day, Hater had started missing the little oddball more than he had after their previous date. He tried to ignore it, made himself concentrate in meetings, do some planetary takeovers and work on planning the party, and tried not to think about Wander too much during the day, with varying levels of success.
But at night, it was like his mind was given free reign to do whatever it wanted, and what it wanted seemed to be to replay scenes from that last night together, and often to take them farther, to things Hater had thought about doing or wanted to do but hadn't.
He would see Wander once again in that pink dress he had worn, noticing again how it clung to his torso and flowed alluringly around his legs. Sometimes he was wearing the long blond wig and sometimes his head was bare. But he was always smiling, giving Hater those looks that burned inside him, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at the overlord and moving ever closer in Hater's mind.
It seemed incredibly real. Wander would climb into his lap, run his hands along Hater's ribs and the bones of his arms, touch his face and kiss him. Hater would smell that sweet, earthy scent of him, feel the wet warmth of Wander's lips, the eager touch of his tongue, the softness of his fur and the gauzy feel of his dress as he touched Wander back.
Sometimes the dream would continue, into places they hadn't explored in real life; Wander touching him in other ways and Hater exploring Wander's body in turn, feeling him shudder as he stroked the nomad's nipples and down his spine, and feeling Wander's hands on every part of him.
When he woke in the morning, it was often to find that he'd hardened in his sleep, and he would have to take some embarrassing minutes to deal with that before getting up and taking his usual shower. It hadn't been a problem he'd had until recently. Since he only got hard through magic, it didn't usually happen unless there was a reason, usually unless he was aroused. Which seemed to be happening more often than it used to. Waking up with those feelings and having to do something about them usually lead to…more conscious thoughts.
Hater would remember the gentle touch of Wander's foot through his robe, the revelation that Wander wasn't bothered by his erection as electrifying as that soft touch had been. He would wonder what it would be like if Wander kept touching him there. What would his hands feel like? They would be soft and warm, just as they were against his bones. He found himself imagining the feeling of Wander's hands on him, gently stroking and squeezing. Sometimes he even thought about Wander's mouth. It was so warm and welcoming when they kissed. What would it feel like if Wander were to kiss him down there as well, or if he started doing other things?
The thoughts made him turn bright green from embarrassment, even alone in his room, but he couldn't seem to stop having them.
Not that he was planning to ask Wander to do any of that. You couldn't ask something like that, you just couldn't, and Hater wasn't really used to asking anything in any case. As a galactic overlord, he usually just demanded things. But, somehow, he couldn't imagine demanding those things of Wander either.
But it didn't stop him from imagining them.
Hater didn't have the dreams or the thoughts every night, but it had become a regular enough occurrence since he'd last seen the nomad that he thought they might be contributing to his nervousness now.
And, of course, being with Wander that way wasn't all he'd been missing.
He'd found himself missing the way Wander would look at him, both those mischievous smiles that he used to find so annoying, and those softer, gentler looks Wander seemed to reserve for only him. He was missing the nomad's happy chatter as he talked about whatever he and the zbornak had been doing lately, wandering aimlessly around the galaxy and helping losers and all that junk, and he was missing the way Wander would snuggle up to his side, hold his hand, and ask about his day, and the way he would genuinely listen as Hater talked.
He was missing how Wander made him feel, both inside and out.
It still seemed so strange that he missed the little pest, that Wander being away for only a few days could make his chest feel heavy and those days feel longer.
Now, he was finally coming back, and Hater was nervous, not that he was planning to admit that to anyone, even if he couldn't quite figure out all the reasons why it was happening.
Hater opened the large door into the skull-ship's mouth, Peepers close behind him. He took one step into the entrance hall and was immediately engulfed in orange. Wander was suddenly on him, throwing furry arms around his neck.
"Happy birthday, Hatey!" he proclaimed.
Hater froze momentarily. Wander hadn't given him a hug like that in a while, at least not with everyone around. He felt his face heating slightly, but he couldn't quite summon the energy to pry the nomad off of him, especially when he hadn't felt those arms around him in what felt like much longer than the week and two days it had actually been. Instead, he glared at Sylvia's smirk over Wander's head, resolutely ignoring Peepers beside him so he wouldn't have to see the face his commander was making.
"Um, yeah," he found himself muttering.
Wander detached after a moment, not before giving Hater an extra squeeze. He was smiling, naturally, one of those giant smiles that almost seemed too big for his face.
"Well, gosh, Hater, Sylvia and me'r so excited ya wanted to share yer special day with us!" Wander was practically bouncing up and down now that his feet were on the floor again, Sylvia didn't look nearly as excited standing next to him, but she at least looked fairly relaxed, and she didn't have that threatening aura he'd felt from her when they had the talk last time he'd seen her. Wander was still chattering. "Now, I know this is your party, Hatey, an' we didn't wanna impose, but we brought ya a little surprise!"
Hater barely heard him. His preoccupation with Wander had kept him from noticing the added noise and motion in the entrance hall, but he had finally looked past the two nomads, and now he felt well and truly frozen. There, standing and chatting in the hall was every one of his prisoners-turned-party-guests from the rager on his ship. As he looked at them, the whole group stopped what they were doing, turning to him as well.
Hater almost wanted to backpedal, to turn and go through the door again and shut it behind him. What had Wander been thinking? Just because the last party had ended well didn't mean the rulers would want to come back to the skull-ship and celebrate the birthday of the powerful, dashing and impressive ruler who'd imprisoned them the last time.
In fact, why had they even come here with Wander if…
They were smiling at him. Oh Grop, they were smiling at him!
There was Prince Cashmere, the goat-man he'd won a dance competition with, standing next to Beeza, the little alien who lived on a giant dog for some reason. Clustered around them, he could see Draykor and Demura, who he was pretty sure were married or something, King Bingleborp and Thaddius, the king of Flendar, as well as all the others.
And all of them looked happy to see him.
It was…strange.
Hater pulled himself out of his stupor, just in time to catch his jaw and keep it on his face. Cashmere had taken a few steps closer and seemed to be talking.
"…and we had no wish to intrude on this, your most special of special days, but the noble Wander and mighty Sylvia assured us that we would be welcome. However, if you wish for your privacy, we shall not linger and take up your valuable time…"
"No, no!" Hater found himself blurting. "I mean, I am the Greatest Host in the Galaxy, no wonder you wanted to come, and there's plenty of food and room and stuff, so come in, or whatever." He realized halfway through his speech that he sounded too eager and tried to play it cool for the last few words. Fortunately, it seemed to work.
There were happy exclamations from the rulers, along with a chorus of 'happy birthday's' and Hater found himself grinning triumphantly. Sure, he hadn't exactly planned on it, or expected it at all, but it felt good to see this group again, and get the chance to have another party with them.
Turning slightly, he noticed Peepers standing stiffly by his side, eyelid twitching just slightly.
"Really, sir?" the watchdog murmured quietly as Hater bent forward to hear him. He seemed to be taking pains to keep their visitors from noticing his objection. "As if letting them go and returning their planets wasn't damaging enough, you're just going to invite them all back in to make a mess of the place again?"
Ordinarily, Hater would probably feel embarrassed about that whole thing, but he found himself standing straighter instead.
"Lighten up, Peepers, Grop!" he whispered back. "Wander cleaned up the skull-ship the day after. Besides, these guys are cool! You were asleep last time, but they're really fun to hang with!"
Peepers sighed.
"Very well, sir. It is your birthday, after all. I'll go set out more party supplies."
"Sweet!" Hater couldn't resist a fist pump. "I mean, get to it, commander! Time for me to throw another awesome party!"
Sure, Peepers wasn't too happy about all of this, and Hater guessed he couldn't really blame him, but at least the watchdog was willing to accept Hater's decision. And, after all, he was the birthday boy, and Peepers' boss. His commander had plenty of reasons for listening to him.
He turned back to the group, to find Wander already giving directions to the party room, somehow predicting where Hater had had Peepers set up the snack table and decorations.
As they started towards the room, the guests happily smiling and chatting to each other and to him, Hater felt his chest swell with excitement. This was just what he'd wanted for his birthday, even if he hadn't known it.
He felt a small hand slip into his, and looked down to find Wander smiling up at him.
"Sorry if it was a might sudden, Hatey," the nomad whispered. "Maybe we shoulda called ahead an' asked after all, but I'm real happy ya liked your surprise."
"Eh, that's okay," Hater managed. It had been pretty startling to see the rulers here again and to not be sure how they felt about him after everything, but it was kind of nice to be surprised as well. Plus, if Wander had called and asked if he could invite additional guests, Peepers would have had time to come up with all kinds of perfectly reasonable objections and Hater might have ended up saying 'no.'
He felt the nomad squeeze his hand for a moment, and a flutter of that nervousness he'd been feeling flickered through him now that Wander was so close, but he found himself squeezing the furry hand back as they continued down the corridor.
He had a feeling this party was going to be much better than last year's.
Thanks for reading!
Hater has started having some fantasies, and he got a little imaginative. Hope nobody minded where his mind wandered. Pun intended lol.
Did anyone guess at Wander's surprise?
We should have another chapter for the birthday party, and someone might try to start something. Then we will be getting into another episode rewrite most likely.
Next update is probably for The New Galaxy. We are in a tense situation over there.
See you soon!