#everyone but my losh mutuals/followers/losh fans in general look away please 🙈

[lemonyinks]

Querl thinks in the early hours of the morning

Brainy/Lyle oneshot

975 words

If there was one thing Querl loved about working on Earth, it was the way it sounded in the early morning. Crickets and birds chirping in unison, the gentle howl of wind breezing by, the rustle of the flora outside, the occasional whistle of a hover craft passing by outside. It was all so calming, so wonderful. Combined with the soft colours of the fading dawn, it was one of the things Querl looked forward to the most in the mornings.

But nothing would ever compare to the feeling of waking up in the arms of his lovers.

Though lined with muscle built up from years of hero and spy work alike, Lyle was warm and soft. He radiated a sort of heat similar to an over worked computer or a lit Bunsen burner. To anyone else, it may have been overbearing, but Querl ran cold, so it was perfect. Almost as perfect as the plushness he had to his stomach, which Querl loved to sink his head into during quiet moments like this.

It was hard to believe that not too long ago, Querl would go days, if not not weeks or months, on end without seeing another person entirely. Cold labs and uncomfortable chairs were the way he used to spend his days and nights. He used to deem it a waste of time to make the trip back to a room he couldn’t even call his own every night. Sleep was a luxury he rarely indulged in anyway, so what was the point?

Things were different now, though. Now, he looked forward to putting away his laboratory equipment, packing experiments and data away for the night in order to fall into bed with the man he loved. He could hardly imagine spending a night away from him anymore.

Lyle lay sprawled out across the bed, nude aside from a thin sheet covering his hips and bunching up under one armpit. His chest rose and fell in a gentle, repetitive motion. Querl was strewn partway on top of him equally as nude with his legs thrown over one of Lyle’s own and his head nestled on his collarbone, shoulder wedged under his other armpit.

His eyes trailed over every inche Lyle’s face. From lashes so long they delicately brushed his cheekbones, to the mole that sat at the corner of his right eye. From the round cheeks he loved to plant kisses on, flushed with the heat of the night, all the way down to plush lips, parted as light snores escaped them.

Querl let his hand come up to stroke the heated skin on his lover’s chest and travel downwards. Smooth, scarred, smooth, scarred, that was the pattern of his skin. Markings that varied from thin white slashes, to splatters of dark discolouration that took up significant space. Their origins were widely unknown to Querl. His touches were feather soft as his hand came to a stop near the other's navel, though they evidently tickled as Lyle’s lips twitched in his sleep and a soft giggle escaped him before his expression settled once more.

Querl draped his arm across Lyle’s abdomen and brought a hand down to hold him around the waist, using his thumb to gently stroke his hipbone, where lay one of his larger scars, which spanned from his navel all the way around to his back. He knew the origin of this one. A mission gone wrong back when he was still working for earthgov, not long before he had joined the Legion. Apparently diplomats did not take well to being spied on during elections.

Lyle took a deep breath and shifted, rolling onto his side to face Querl, and he moved with him to allow the change in position. Lyle's eyebrows momentarily furrowed before smoothing out again, still deep in sleep. They were so close now that their chests were pressed together, their noses brushing against each other. He could feel each puff of warm breath ghosting against his lips.

Querl brought a slow hand up to brush a stray strand of hair out of Lyle’s face before tucking the length behind his ear with a gentleness that few would believe he had the capability of displaying. It was getting longer, he noted. His usual mullet was shaggier, the back almost falling past his shoulders and his bangs touching down against his cheekbones. Beautiful as always.

He ran his knuckles against Lyle’s cheekbone and then cupped his cheek in one cold hand and swiped his under eye with his thumb, careful to not apply too much pressure. His heart soared when Lyle leaned into the touch with a soft noise.

His eyes flickered over to the alarm clock sitting on the bedside table over Lyle’s shoulder. The bright red numbers blinking at him incessantly told him that it was 4 in the morning, about an hour and a half before he and Lyle were to head into the lab for work.

There was a point in time where he would have simply climbed out of bed and headed in early to best optimize his usefulness, but now such things concerned him not. He could not think of a better way to spend his time than this. Now, he was content to press a soft, butterfly kiss to the spot between Lyle’s eyebrows and snuggle closer into his warmth. And he did just that, slinging an arm around Lyles waist and tangling their legs together.

He never thought he was capable of feeling a love like this, nor did he ever think it would be returned so strongly. He had previously resigned himself to a millennium of solitude before Lyle came into his life and lit it up with the light of a thousand stars. Querl loved, and he was loved in return. He couldn’t ask for anything more.