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snarkys-malarky · 11 months ago

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Snow Time like the Present

Not really happy with the title name but I wanted to throw in my donation toward Tech Tuesday!!

This version is SFW and can be read by those of the 13+ crowd I feel. If you want the spicy version, hit me up. I may post it later anyway if I get time.

I live off the dopamine dump from comments, reblogs and reviews.

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I wasn’t sure how I kept getting myself into weird situations but it seemed to be a trend in my life that had no intention of slowing down. Sitting inside of a grounded space craft, freezing my arse off while waiting for the other person I was with to (hopefully) return was definitely, I felt, outside of normal for most folks. This other person with me insisted on cheecking on the hyperdrive for which, and I quote, my assistance was unnecessary. I wasn’t sure what I did to make him dislike me but (ok, well maybe I have an idea but I apologized) try as I might, I couldn’t get on his good side. I credited it to the way I met up with him and the odd but loveable bunch of misfits that was his family.

After all, I was trying (accidentally) to kill them.

A fact for which I have repeatedly apologized and done my very best to make amends for but some people just refuse to let bygones be bygones.

It wasn’t even personal. I was in a bit of a spot and the guy who I owed quite a bit of credits to insisted that bringing in the kid would wipe the slate clean and I would be free to go. Considering he had my ship impounded and I couldn’t get off the dirtball where he reigned supreme without it, I agreed. I’m no professional bounty hunter, how was I supposed to know she had 4 older brothers who would literally do anything to protect her?

And is it my fault that the kid and I got into a tug of war over the blaster and the kill/stun switch got moved from stun to kill just as I pulled it away from her and then had to fight for my life against the running tide of death that suddenly rounded the corner and was chasing us?

It’s not like I intended to hit goggle guy.

With my abysmal aim, I thought it was a miracle I hit anyone at all, and it was just a flesh wound anyway, only grazed his thigh…kinda.

I tried to explain that once they (of course) caught us. Funnily enough, it was the kid and the small mountain of a man (who I later learned was called Omega and Wrecker respectively and both of whom I absolutely adore) who decided to use their superpower of irresistible baby tooka eyes to keep the others from killing me on the spot just for the principle of the thing. The pale one (whose name is Echo and who has a never-ending supply of corny jokes) just rolled his eyes and went to help the one I accidentally winged while the bandana wearing hottie (Hunter, who needs a massage more than anyone I have ever met) just sighed and turned to me. I offered to help patch up goggle guy (called Tech and the source of my current woes) but the death glare said goggle wearing guy sent me killed that. Granted he was doing a pretty good job on his own with the stuff from his backpack.

Hunter, arms crossed and broody scowl firmly in place, was the one to interrogate me and find out why I was trying to kidnap their sister.

Like I said, it wasn’t personal. I just wanted my ship back and to get the hell off that planet. I couldn’t even tell them why Horgan (that was the guy holding my ship to ransom) wanted her. He just said she’d been kidnapped and was worth a lot of money returned and he didn’t plan to kill or slave her.

I do have some principles after all.

Getting the hell off that planet would suffice as well since I didn’t figure Horgan to be the type to expend the energy to come after me, especially if he still had my ship. Losing my ship would hurt for sure, it was the only thing I really had and my way of making money but, in the balance of the galaxy and my personal life or death, I had no problem leaving it.

Imagine my surprise when Hunter (after a stern look from the kid) offered a ride off planet.

Since my momma didn’t raise no fool, I jumped at the offer and followed them back to their ship, listening the whole way to the pale guy and goggle guy list reasons why helping me was a Bad Idea.

It was kinda funny when Omega turned to look at both of her complaining brothers and told them they were better than that just like she was their mother.

It was even funnier when they both shut up and looked away, just like they had been scolded by their mother.

Considering that clones don’t have mothers I figure that was another of Omega’s superpowers. However, I didn’t know that at the time, about them being clones, so my snort laughing at their faces probably didn’t help my situation but it didn’t get me left behind either so…win.

They were all shocked to discover, on our way back to Ord Mantell, their apparent base of operations, that I had been a blockade runner during the Clone Wars for several Republic planets and was about 9/10 of the way to having my healer certifications.

Ha, not the shiftless no good you guys just assumed I was.

How I ended up on Partoola was a long story and one I didn’t like to think about so I gave them the redacted version.

The heavily redacted version.

Which was something along the lines of “I don’t know you and I don’t want to talk about it but it involved nothing illegal and I’m not wanted by the Empire”.

Which was more than they could say so I call it fair.

My skill set allowed me to easily get a job on Ord Mantell (apparently even almost healers were rare in the Outer Rim, especially Core trained ones, and I was a hot commodity) and it wasn’t long before I had a shitty little apartment and found myself often hosting the young Omega and Co. when they were on planet.

I blame it on the fact I could cook, and liked to cook, and had money with which to buy food to cook and they all, to a man (and child), greatly appreciated food that wasn’t rations.

The first time I invited them over to eat, by way of apology for trying to kidnap Omega and giving Tech a new scar, I wasn’t sure they would come. I had cornered them at Cid’s, their official, unofficial, hangout, about a month after our adventure together. I had seen them several times before as Omega had decided before we even made it to Ord Mantell to adopt me, like I was some kind of lost tooka kit, and insisted on comming me whenever they were on the planet and wanting to see me.

Which usually meant me meeting her at Cid’s and either spending time losing repeatedly to Omega in dejarik or, if a brother was available, going on chaperoned walks to the market square and buying Mantell Mix, for which she had a serious addiction.

This time she had greeted me enthusiastically by jumping into my arms (it was a good thing I was tall for a female) and telling me she was glad to see me alive.

I had to wonder at what all this kid experienced for that to be her go to greeting.

All four of the men were gathered at the bar, drinks in hand and turned to look at me with a synchronization which was a little bit disturbing, to be honest.

I put on my best smile.

And noted Tech look down with a frown.

Oh well, can’t win them all.

I repeated my carefully rehearsed invitation and was please to note Omega’s eyes light up and she began to bounce. A good indicator that my invitation would probably be accepted, no matter how the others felt about it.

That child had them so whipped.

If she ever figured out how much I wanted ring side seats.

I was also gratified to note Wrecker’s hopeful expression and even Echo looked intrigued.

Hunter, as usual, looked cautious.

Tech just kept looking down.

In the end, the invite was accepted and I and my tiny apartment played host to a group of clones who acted like they had never had real food before.

It was a bit of a cringe thought to think that maybe they hadn’t.

After poking and prodding and carefully sniffing (even though they all commented at some point how good it smelled when they arrived) they all began to eat.

And eat.

Holy kriff was I glad I estimated on the larger end of the scale how much to cook because they cleaned it all up.

And no one spent any time hesitating over dessert when I brought it out, instead falling in with enthusiasm.

I noticed Tech’s enthusiasm seemed to be just a bit more than the others and took amused note that he was the apparent sweet tooth in the bunch.

There then followed a much more relaxed atmosphere of food filled males. Once I turned on the holonet and found a program which Tech and Omega both latched onto with enthusiasm, I set about cleaning up the disaster as I observed them with no small amount of amusement. I knew by now they lived on their ship and wondered how often they had such an opportunity as this, to do something that most beings considered so normal and mundane.

It wasn’t long before all but Omega and Tech were steadily filling the air with the soft sounds of sleeping males. Those two were still glued to the holoprojector. I finished my cleanup before making my way to the small sitting area and settling onto the floor next to Omega. I had snagged from the back of the sofa the large throw and, after sitting, unfolded it to share across with Omega and Tech as well. He demurred, saying he was not cold which left Omega to gleefully gather up the remainer and burrow into it, leaning into my side and cuddling down until her head was nearly in my lap.

I was pretty sure she would be asleep before long.

I was right.

I looked down and grinned when I heard the soft sounds of her snoring, not being able to resist petting that fluffy blond mop. I ran my hands thru her hair, scritching gently at her head. I looked up after a moment to find Tech gazing intently at us. I offered him a small smile and was again disappointed as he turned quickly away, fastening his attention to the screen in front of us.

I sighed quietly.

I found myself after that night mass cooking at least once a week for six. At first, they used an array of flimsy excuses to find a way to finagle an invitation until I finally took the bantha by the horns and told them I really appreciated getting to exercise my cooking skills again and also get to have company which just so happened to intimidate the local nasties enough that they tended to steer clear of my apartment block when they decided to practice their main skillsets of B&E.

Maybe it was a slight stretch of the truth but the upshot was I got to have company and cook, they got to eat and spend time somewhere other than their ship and I had the safest apartment in that not particularly great neighborhood.

Another upshot was I occasionally got tapped to come with them on missions (read money making gigs), especially if there was the possibility of Omega needing to be kept out of trouble.

The first time I went because I happened to be off work for a couple days, was bored, and Omega gave me her class 1 baby aak eyes, which, so far as I knew, no one had the power to resist.

The subsequent times after that I had no good excuse except I liked this scruffy bunch of nerfs and I took advantage of the time they were gone to convince Omega to try and help me clean the ship enough to get the godsawful smell down to a dull roar.

Honestly, an enclosed space inhabited only by males is bound to be bad. Add in the fact that none of them seemed to have the slightest idea of how to clean just made it ten times worse.

The first time Omega and I did it, we pretended like nothing had been done and watched covertly for reaction. Wrecker and Tech seemed oblivious but Echo took a couple of deep breaths, gave us both a nearly teary-eyed look of gratitude and walked by. Hunter kept deep breathing and looking confused but pleased.

After that, Echo found a reason for me to go on as many missions as he could manage. And I usually went because, well, because why not? This ragtag bunch had become as much family to me as I had ever had and the idea of something happening to them without me knowing about it was unbearable.

Which is what ended me up in my current predicament, i.e., freezing my shebs off on a Force forsaken planet in a bid to help Tech, who out of them all seemed to like me the least. It was just supposed to be a quick supply run for Cid. The others were recovering from some very bad street food which I had not been present for and Tech refused to eat anything from a street vendor. They had all shown up at my door in the mid evening that day with a pale and sweating Omega carried by Tech, the rest of them in not much better shape. After a quick med scan, I confirmed what Tech had already been telling them, that they all had a bad case of food poisoning. I could tell he was trying hard not to I told you so his miserable siblings but it was a near thing. I had him help me to get them all settled, with Hunter and Omega getting my bed and Echo on the sofa with Wrecker on a nest on the living room floor since he was way too big for the sofa or anywhere else. After administering some low dose antiemetics and making sure everyone had fluids and vomit containers, Tech went back to the Marauder to get Lola for Omega, who had asked so pitifully for the stuffy that I could almost visibly see Tech melt before patting her head and hurrying off after the requested item. Hunter then asked(begged) me to go with Tech since Cid was being her usual arse of a self and demanding a supply run job be run since ‘Tech was still fine wasn’t he’?

It seemed the Batch had a personal rule about no one ever being alone, especially on ops. I tried not to giggle at the thought of picking up a load of alcohol as an op even as Hunter hit me with his own version of baby aak eyes and I folded like a tent in the wind.

So, after making sure none of them were about to die whilst we were gone and after Tech’s obligatory arguing about why I didn’t have to go, he eventually gave in and off we went.

Then the hyperdrive, which Tech had said was fixed since an earlier trip where it had blew, turned out to not be as fixed as he thought and we had been lucky to be thrown out of hyperspace instead of blown to miniscule bits. It just sucked that we were thrown out with the only breathable atmosphere planet close enough for emergency landing being an icebox that probably classified as many species version of hell.

I know it was certainly contending heavily for mine.

After what Tech referred to as a “controlled crash landing” which was Tech code for the ship didn’t end up in a mile long debris field of component pieces, we unbuckled and got up to assess the damage. I was not the mechanic or techno whiz that Tech was but I had flown a ship thru the wars and knew enough to tell what was what. We both began to check over the ship, me with the manual check and Tech checking diagnostics. It wasn’t until I heard him let loose a particularly vicious Huttese curse that I began to worry. When he said he needed to check outside I looked out the cockpit viewport to note it was snowing. He opened the ship to go out and assess the damage there and the burst of freezing air that whipped in and against us both was enough to steal my breath and cause an instant cascade of chills. The snow I had noted thru the viewport was coming down heavily. I looked at Tech and tapped his vambrace since he was already in his helmet. He turned to look at me.

“Are your blacks thermo-regulated for artic temps as well?”

“To a degree. The time before bodily damage occurs is relative to the ambient temperature. And the health of the wearer, of course.”

Of course.

“Set your timer then.” I told him. “If you’re not back in 20, I’m coming to find you.”

“That will not be necessary.”

“That’s correct, because you’re gonna be back in 15 so I don’t have to!” I yelled over the sound of the inrushing wind.

He stepped out and I closed up the ramp and set a timer on my comm. Then went into survival prep mode. I had no idea if long range comms were down or if this icy rock was inhabited. Figuring we would need to save as much power as possible, I started building a nest in the warmest interior part of the ship. Keeping warm would be of vital importance, as much as hydration and I knew this ship would get cold fast. I pulled the thin excuse for mattresses off the two racks and laid them together then gathered all the blankets and pillows I could find, even taking down the ones in Omega’s “room”. I pulled the med scanner and rations kits and extra hydration packs and placed them together in a pile near the makeshift nest.

I checked my timer and then sat down at the navigation console to wait.

The sad thing was, I knew we would probably have to huddle together to conserve body heat and any other time I would be thrilled at such a prospect. While he seemed to have a bit of a problem with me, I really liked Tech.

Like, really liked Tech.

He was everything I found attractive in a male. Terrifyingly brilliant, witty, funny, kind, caring. Not to mention just as deliciously gorgeous as all his brothers. There was just something about him that ticked all my boxes and even though probably any of the others would have been an easy win if I wanted to, of course my attention had to get fixed by the one out of the group that seemed to have some kind of allergy to me.

I had noticed his reticence around me and I had gone out of my way to engage him, thinking that maybe he was just shy and needed someone else to make the friendly overtures. After months of knowing them, I had come to know the others fairly well. However, getting Tech to talk with me had been difficult. I hit on asking him about things I heard him mention since he always seemed to have something to say but little opportunity to do so. Once he realized I was not teasing but sincere he could carry on about a topic in astonishing detail. Honestly, it was intimidating how much he seemed to know about just about anything you could ask. I loved listening to him enthusiastically talk about whatever the topic happened to be. It only took occasional questions to keep him going. And I would think we were making progress toward becoming friendly if not friends then he would back off again, shrinking back into himself and it would feel like starting all over again from the beginning.

I wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong. Sometimes I would see him looking at me, his expression unreadable before looking away. When I was with them on jobs, he would have that soft, almost smiling expression sometimes when Omega would ask me for stories while in hyperspace, cuddling up to me on a rack and falling asleep while I spoke. I wished I could figure out where I was wrong stepping but it would have to wait.

I checked my comm. It had been 25 minutes. Worried, I hurried to the ramp and opened it, just in time to see Tech stumble from under the ship and against the side of the ramp. Even though I was in no way dressed for it, I ran down the ramp, reaching to catch him as he stumbled again.

The cold was mind numbing.

Somehow, we made it back up the ramp and inside and I slammed my hand against the panel to seal the hatch. Tech fell to his knees. I scrambled down beside him and reached to pop the seal on his helmet before pulling it off. He was shaking so hard he couldn’t manage it.

His face was pale, his lips tinged blue. I swore loudly.

“Why didn’t you come in sooner?” I fumed as I worked to get him out of his armour.

“H-h-had t-to rep-pair long d-d-distance relay. B-boost c-c-comm signal. I c-can’t f-fix ship without p-parts.”

I was really worried at his disjointed and slurred speech. I managed to get him to the nest of blankets I had made on the floor and half pushed, half rolled his shaking form onto it. He curled into himself and I worried even more. I pulled off his gloves and unlatched and removed his boots, socks and vambraces, checking over his hands and feet as I went.

Damnit. Toes and fingers both showing signs of early frostbite, I cursed aloud once again. The stubborn kriffer. I bundled him in everything we had and grabbed the med scanner.

A quick head to toe scan showed me what I already knew.

He was hypothermic. I debated whether or not to strip him out of his blacks. They were crafted to keep the wearer’s body temperature regulated, yes. But they also appeared damp in the spots where they were not covered by armour. Erring on the side of caution, I began to run my hands over his body, trying to see if his blacks were wet or just appeared so. I discovered they were actually wet in several spots and argued myself for a moment before gritting my teeth and tugging the items off him. Not an easy endeavor.

Of all the ways I had imagined getting him out of his clothes, this had not been one of them.

I had found one heating pack in the medical supplies and used it now. I started the thermal reaction and tucked it next to his hands as I began to take off my shoes. I had to use the biggest thermal heat producer I had available.

Which was me.

I crawled up next to his still shaking form. Unsure if he could hear me or not, I still told him what I was going to do.

“So, smart one, you’ve managed to give yourself a nice case of hypothermia. Since we are all out of sources of synthesized warmth right now, we’re gonna have to do this the old fashioned way.”

I apologized as I pulled the blankets back quickly and wrapped myself around him before tugging the blankets back into place. I laid my head against his icy cheek and spoke.

“I know I’m not exactly your favorite person but I’m all you got at the moment for a heater and I’m not about to let you freeze to death just cause you don’t like me.”

I hugged him close, trapping his hands with the warmer between us and rubbing my warmer feet gently against his to try and keep the circulation going. Toes he might could live without but I knew Tech would be lost if he lost any part of his hands. He buried his face into my neck, his breathy pants hot against my skin even as his skin was still much too cold. I rubbed my hands softly over his back, encouraging blood flow. I kept talking, telling him not to go to sleep, making him answer questions and using every method I could think of to keep his mind engaged enough to not slip into dangerous slumber. I knew as he warmed it would be harder.

It seemed forever before I felt his hard shakes begin to subside into softer shivers then occasional tremors. His body softened against mine, curving in more closely as he was able to instinctively seek the warmth he was too immobilized to be able to do earlier. I snaked a hand between us and felt gently along his hands and fingers, asking if he could feel here or if this tingled. His groggy answers eased some of my concern. I used my feet on his to perform more or less the same maneuver. He still had a few tingly spots on his feet but that was better than numb so I decided to leave it for the moment until I was sure his core temp was closer to where it should be and he was out of danger. I was also now having to fight against my own adrenaline crash and subsequent shakes and sleepiness. Having his big, warm(ing) body wrapped around mine was not helping me win that battle. I wanted to drift off to sleep quite badly myself and it was only my still lingering fear for him that was helping me to fight it. I struggled on for a bit longer but when I felt myself jerk in that almost asleep but shouldn’t be reflex I knew I was losing the battle.

I wiggled an arm free and reached just above my head where I had, with way more forethought than I had thought myself capable of at the time, placed the med scanner. I turned it on and ran it awkwardly over what of him I could reach in my position. Thank the freggin Force it was showing him out of the danger zone. I laid it back over our heads and squirmed my arm back under the blanket again. Tech shifted against me and somehow, miraculously, managed to wrap even more of himself around me.

I was beginning to wonder if clones had some snake DNA in the mix.

I could feel his breathing edging into the deeper rhythms of sleep and decided it was safe to let him go.

For that matter, I decided it was safe to let me go as well and let the warmth we were now cocooned in work its magic.

I wasn’t sure how long I was out but waking up was deliciously disorienting. The first thing I noticed was being warm… very warm. The next thing I noticed was the spot where my head was resting was moving rhythmically up and down.

Something my pillow usually didn’t do.

I shifted a bit and realized I was shifting against something.

Make that someone.

My eyes shot open as the someone I was wrapped around, and who also happened to be wrapped around me, breathed deeper, body stretching as one does when slowly waking as the arms around me convulsively grew tighter and the hands began to languidly stroke over my back and my head, where one hand was buried. I tried not to move as I realized parts of me were extremely close to parts of him and I had one leg in a very strategic position.

It was very disturbing, to be simultaneously so very comfortable and relaxed and yet nervous and terror struck. Add in the fact that I had said someone running their hands over me like I was a pet tooka and my body and brain were stuck in a feedback loop of not knowing how to respond so I simply lay, frozen and unable to move a muscle.

“I do not dislike you, you know.”

What?

My mind was simply not making the necessary transition from sleeping to waking fast enough to follow.

I must have made some kind of sound because he continued.

“I do not dislike you at all. In fact,” he paused here and took a deep breath, a fact I could know for certain as my head was still resting on his shoulder, tucked in the space between the natural curve of his neck and chest. And boy, did he smell good.

“I… I like you very much.” This came out in a hurried rush.

That seemed to unlock me and I raised my head to look at him. I forgot I had pulled off his goggles and laid them to the side as well earlier and ended up practically nose to nose with a set of warm, golden brown eyes locked with mine.

Of the many times I had imagined confronting him and having a similar conversation as this and all the smart, logical, witty and cogent replies I had imagined myself having, alas my reality was immensely deficient and boiled down to a surprised sounding, “Y-you do?”

Reality was a bitch and vastly irritating and I would be having words with her later about the fact that I couldn’t seem to form necessary words at extremely important times.

But that was later since right now, I was hypnotized by watching the eyes that mine were locked with grow increasingly darker and that big, long-fingered and amazingly dexterous hand still on the back of my head press just enough that I finally clued in to what was happening, took the hint I hoped I was being presented with and leaned forward, pressing my lips to the ones just a breath away from my own.

Dear gods, he had amazing lips. Soft yet firm and perfect for the activity they were currently engaged in. I wasn’t sure which of us the soft moan I heard originated from but it definitely fit the mood. I had longed to taste him and now I was being handed my desire and I was not about to waste it. I slanted my mouth against his, pushing my body up just a bit so that I could glide the hand of the arm that had been wrapped around his torso up that chiseled chest and around his neck. I dug my fingers into the soft hair at the back of his head and there was no mistaking the moan that I heard this time was from him. He jerked me closer, a move which made the precariously positioned leg mentioned earlier slide hard against the hard thing it had been trying to avoid.

The effect was electric.

Tech gasped sharply, his hips jerking up hard against my traitorous leg, which seemed to have a mind of its own. I couldn’t resist the lust driven impulse to sensuously rub my leg over him, eliciting a sound I knew I would probably be hearing in some of my hotter fantasies from here on out. I slid said leg up and over his hip, causing me to groan as well as the shift in position allowed me to feel the hard, hot length of him against a very needy part of my anatomy. It caused me to curse quite fluently mentally at the fact I happened to still be wearing clothing. Even so, instinct still won and I couldn’t help my own hips from seeking friction against his. I felt his entire body shudder against mine and was gratified that this time, it had nothing to do with being cold.

He gasped my name against my lips as he continued to ravage them as our bodies moved against each other in increasing need. I wanted him so much I could barely string two thoughts together but the problem was I didn’t just want his body (which was smokin hot and definitely worth wanting). I wanted everything about him that had drawn me into this honey trap to begin with.

And I couldn’t just enjoy his body without making sure the rest was coming along for the ride as well.

I somehow found the willpower to dig deep and push him back for a moment. The look of confused dread on his face nearly caused me to stop with my intentions but my heart was, surprisingly, speaking louder than my hormones at the moment.

“Tech,” I panted, “I’m not gonna lie. I want you so bad right now I can barely think but I don’t want to do this if you are going to regret it later or if its going to make things weird between us,” I could feel my courage waning under the look he was leveling at me.

“I just… don’t want you to hate me later,” I hated how small and unsure my voice sounded at that last and turned my eyes from his, certain I had not only killed the mood but any burgeoning fondness he might have developed for me.

I felt one of those big hands I had somewhat of a fixation on gently cup my face and turn it back to his. It took him softly saying my name though before I could drag my gaze back to his.

“Mesh’la I must apologize for giving you a wrong impression. It seems in my attempt not to importune you with how I felt toward you, I have instead given you the opposite impression. I have never disliked you. In fact, from the moment we met when you shot me to now I have been impressed over and again with your courage, kindness, intelligence and beauty. I have never been good with expressing my feelings or reading those of others and I did not want to make you uncomfortable with me if all you felt toward me was friendliness. If that was all I could have then I was determined not to make it awkward. However,” a soft grin lit his face and hypnotized me with how excruciatingly handsome it made him, “I have recently come to suspect that you may feel more than just general friendliness for me. Would this be a correct assumption?” he asked, a bit cheekily I felt since we had all but been dry humping one another just a few moments ago.

I, however, managed to answer both succinctly and pertinently.

“Yes.” I said before dragging his head back down to mine and fastening my mouth to his.

His hands, clever things that they are, didn’t waste much time in divesting me of my clothing. My enthusiastic help probably was a boon as well. His eyes burned with appreciation as the last bit of my clothing was flung who knows where and all of me was visible. It was quite a stroke to my ego I had to admit to have a man as physically attractive as him admiring and desiring me. I considered myself quite average physically, neither fat nor skinny, a bit on the taller side but pretty much just your average, everyday female. I reached out, pulling him to me then pulling the blankets around us both. The question on his face was easy to interpret.

“It’s too cold to waste good body heat.” I said with a smile and he grinned at my humor before I wrapped my arms around him once again. We both gasped and groaned at the sensation of being skin to skin. He hovered over me, a look of uncertainty on his face.

“I do not wish to crush you. I am a good deal heavier than you.”

I smiled up at him, “I’ll let you know if that becomes an issue. Right now, I can’t think of anything better than having your entire body pressed against mine.”

He answering smile lit up his face and made him look boyishly happy.

After that, there wasn’t much in the way of coherent noises, much less speech, for quite some time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was nearly a full rotation later before his brothers, in a ship that looked as barely flight worthy as they did, barely recovered as they were. The ship was on loan from Cid with the understanding that someone besides her would be paying for its use but, it arrived with what we needed to fix the ship and get off that frozen rock. I could tell Hunter immediately knew what was up as soon as he stepped on the ship and removed his helmet. He shot us both a Look before, surprisingly, a small grin then turned to help Wrecker who had called out from the bottom of the ramp. Tech and I swapped glances before moving to help, him warning them about the danger of the extreme temperatures and me to oversee the control panel as they hurried to make the needed repairs. Omega had been left back on Ord Mantell with orders to fleece as many of Cid’s clientele in dejarik as she wanted. A task I understood she set to with great glee.

As I sat relaying information and swapping quips and insults over comms to the group of men working to repair the ship, I smiled at the thought that this was my family now. A family I had never expected but one I could not imagine my life without now.

When I felt a pair of ice-cold hands slip down my shirt and cup my breasts as I shrieked only to hear Tech chuckle behind me. I grabbed his arms to pull him down to where I could kiss him properly, deciding perhaps the galaxy didn’t hate me as much as I had always thought.

The whistles and catcalls of his brothers behind us notwithstanding.

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