Kent/Feldspar

[videointhenoise]

"Just once more," they had said when Ellie's team petitioned for it. She was busy with Palmer, falling in love with science while he fell in love with God, and Kent was left to pick up the pieces. He wanted another damn go at it. The Machine had a pricetag in the billions; it was begging to be used again.

But they wouldn't let Ellie go. They wouldn't let just anyone go. They wanted someone who knew how it worked, who had been there from the beginning, but someone who isn't completely taken in by Ellie's words.

That leads them to a dozen people and they end up with Kent. He's blind, but that's not what decides it. They claim that he wouldn't hallucinate the way Ellie did. That he has a unique perspective.

And, he's already proven himself steady and loyal.

He experiences it all the way that Ellie does, but something goes wrong on the other end. Maybe another terrorist attack. Maybe not. All he knows is that he's in the sphere and then, suddenly, he's floating, unable to find his footing until a great crash and he slams into the bottom of the machine.

He groans, pulling his helmet on with a grunt and a wince.

"Fuck this," he mutters, finding the edge of the sphere with his hands. There was a door there somewhere. He just - has to find it.

Comments

[getfeldsparred]

They’ve wanted it, ever since that dance in space they’ve wanted exactly this. The rush is just like pressing the ignition on the ship for the first time, but even more intense, like being shocked or burned or struck but in the best way.

They turn their head, Kent’s lips sliding up to the front and center of theirs. They try to remember what it was like to kiss - it’d been ages, since they were a hatchling kissing everything that moved - and part their lips.

[videointhenoise]

Kent slides an arm around their neck, looping it there casually rather than pulling them down, and parts his lips for them.

He doesn't know what the fuck he's doing, only that he knows they have kissing because they've talked about it. And - because this is very, very good.

He's lost his fucking mind.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar learns something new: human kissing is identical to Hearthian kissing. Kent presses back and Feldspar gives a sharp inhale, then presses back with more feeling.

Their lips feel different than a Hearthian’s, fuller in shape but not quite as big. They wonder if they kiss with tongue -

And they push their tongue into his mouth with a shudder.

[videointhenoise]

Kent's hands curl into a fist and he explores that tongue with his own. It's odd and alien, of course, but he pulls back and gives it a playful little nip with his teeth before he sits up again. He doesn't want to break the kiss at all. It's perfect.

They're goddamn perfect.

He shifts a little, fingers trailing along the back of their neck.

"You let me know if I'm going to poke an eye out," he mutters against his lips.

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar slides their tongue against his leisurely, fumbling just a little as Kent sits them both up.

“I’ll yelp,” they reassure him, hand pushing through his hair. “Don’t worry.” It’s so soft, sort of delicate, and Kent’s head is rounder and leads down to a strong neck with alluring shoulder muscles…

“Don’t stop.”

No regard for danger, no regard for consequences. That’s Feldspar. That’s been their whole life, and they feel it now too.

[videointhenoise]

He gives them a bit of a poke to the back of the neck and he can swear he hears giggles from somewhere. He pulls away, raising his head. "I think we're being watched..."

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar hears the giggles too and abruptly pulls away. They know that laughter -

“Hatchlings.”

Eyes narrowed they jump to their feet and rush to the door, throwing it open to the sound of small footsteps scurrying away.

“I put you to bed an hour ago!”

[videointhenoise]

Kent stands up and joins them, chuckling as he rubs his chin. "Well, we're never going to hear the end of it," he says, gently sliding his arm around Feldspar's shoulders.

"We have a saying at home. 'In for a penny, in for a pound.' Means - we're already in trouble, so we might as well keep going."

[getfeldsparred]

“This crater is too small,” Feldspar mumbles, still looking out from the front door as the sounds of giggles slowly fade away.

They shut the door and sink back into Kent. “Oh yeah? Is that the logic we’re going with here?”

[videointhenoise]

"Why not?" he asks, tightening his arm around them. "After all, we don't know what the hell we're doing. Not really."

[getfeldsparred]

"I know in theory what to do, but in practice...yeah. Uh..." They turn and slip their arms around Kent's shoulders. "Guess we'll just have to find all that out, won't we? If we...if this...I mean, if it'd even work, right?"

[videointhenoise]

Kent casually pulls them to the bed and sits down. "Depends on what you mean by work? We can just go back to the kissing."

[getfeldsparred]

Kissing works. Kissing works really well. They fit really well together, or at least their mouth and lips do.

"Let's...yeah, let's do that some more," they agree, leaning forward to kiss him again. They go for deliberately sweet this time, just to shake it up.

[videointhenoise]

Kent smiles, holding them close, kissing them back with gentle hands along their back. And once he's out of breath, once he has to pull away, he cups their face and grins. "Alright. Alright, I think we need to - talk logistics."

He smiles to himself, resting his forehead against their shoulder.

What the hell is he even doing? He never wants to stop.

[getfeldsparred]

They groan in protest. No, no talking, just more kissing! More and more, they want everything that can be thrown at them. But Kent has that science brain, all planning and logistics and thinking, and Feldspar falls back against the bed, letting him fall too if he's leaning too far.

"I don't want to talk logistics, I want to keep kissing you. Can't we just do that tonight and worry about everything else in the morning?"

[videointhenoise]

"No, because if you keep kissing me, then I'm not going to let you go tonight," he warns them playfully, letting them fall back on the bed. "And you'll have to stay here. All night."

[getfeldsparred]

"I don't see how that's supposed to be a threat." More like the best sort of promise, spending the night with his best friend who they definitely didn't just kiss. And then kept kissing. "You've slept with me before. I'm a good bedmate."

[videointhenoise]

He sighs and stands up. "Yeah, but I was three seconds from lying on the floor. Do you know how hard it is to pretend that I haven't wanted to do that for - a long time?"

He reaches up and rakes his fingers through his hair. "I feel like I'm a kid again. And not in the good way. I was popular, you know. I had girlfriends. I didn't want girlfriends, but I had them," he laughs.

[getfeldsparred]

It suddenly occurs to Feldspar that they could probably push their fingers through Kent's hair now too, if only he'd come back to the bed and lie down with them.

"I wanted to kiss you too," they tell him simply, as though that was the point. "Probably since you took off your helmet. You're handsome. I think Gneiss said it when I first brought you back, and they were right, of course."

They fold their hands and rest them on their stomach. "What's the issue? Aside from the fact that we're both biologically and culturally very different."

[videointhenoise]

Kent shakes his head, leaning against his desk. "There is no problem. There's just - the unknown. Which I try very hard to get through every day."

But he can't stay there. Feldspar grounds him, as strange as that is, so he joins them on the bed again and takes their hands. "Guess we can try this your way, though. I'm not actually opposed to it."

[getfeldsparred]

Feldspar sits up as Kent sits back down, holding his five fingers with a kind of reverence. They squeeze his fingers and brush his knuckles with their thumbs.

"I don't want to feel like this is difficult. Here, let's fix it. I like you very much, do you like me?"

[videointhenoise]

Kent laughs because he knows how he sounds. He knows that he sounds absolutely crazy.

Hell, he sounds like Ellie. Overthinking everything. That puts it a little more into perspective, and he is able to bring himself back to this moment, with Feldspar holding his hand.

"It's not difficult. And yeah. I'm crazy for it, but I do." He leans over to kiss him again.

[getfeldsparred]

Kent probably is crazy for it. Everyone knows that they're a mess at the best of times, and a disaster at the worst.

But he likes them, and Feldspar likes them back. They kiss Kent softly and pulls back again. "Then there's nothing complicated about it. If you're worried about stigma, that's not a thing here."

[videointhenoise]

"I am," he murmurs in between kissing him and lying down on the bed. "Worried about what people will say about you. They love me, after all." He slides his hand down their back. "Maybe you talked me into this."

[getfeldsparred]

“That’s true,” Feldspar nods, pulling Kent even closer, hooking a leg over his hips. If they do something Kent does like he’ll just tell them - they have faith in his ability to advocate for himself.

Feldspar takes Kent’s head in their hands, finally able to touch him exactly as they want to.

“Maybe I did. They wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. If I set my sights on something it’s impossible to get me to give up on it.”