Cuddling.

It was midnight and Lyfin and Xaanik were curled up together on rumpled bedsheets, resembling nothing more than a demented pretzel.

Lyfin had one arm sort of awkwardly squashed underneath Xaanik and it was going a bit numb, and the awkward tapping of claws on his back was annoying. Xaanik wasn't very good at cuddling.

It was almost comforting to know that there was something Xaanik was total crap at. Lyfin liked lording this fact over him. Lyfin was a good cuddler. He could have gotten a PhD in cuddling. He had even gotten Eltae to make him a playlist of good cuddling songs – Xaanik hated all the music and tried to sneak Nine Inch Nails onto it, but Lyfin wouldn't stand for that. It was Death Cab for Cutie or squat.

"Stay still!" Lyfin complained.

"This music is making me jittery," Xaanik said unhappily, casting an evil glance at the docking station. Ben Gibbard droned away regardless – Lyfin had done something magical to the iPod preventing Xaanik from altering it with his mind.

"It's nice. It's the one thing I like about 21st century on Earth."

"Hipster music?" Xaanik pronounced the words as if they tasted horrible.

"Yes," Lyfin said defiantly, pulling his arm out from under the weight of Xaanik's body and draping it over his shoulder instead. "Anyway, can you really not stay still?"

"I can stay perfectly still," Xaanik murmured. "I once remained immobile in molecule-perfect precision for three Earth years when hunting down a vicious fandom wolf. It's just that…Death Cab for Cutie...is too much for me to take."

"I've found your weakness, then," Lyfin mumbled. As much as he liked the banter, it was late and his eyelashes fluttered close, a happy sort of warmth settling in around him.
Xaanik's hand slid down his back, claws scraping lightly. It was actually quite relaxing until –

"Xaanik!" yelped Lyfin, his eyes flying open.

The angel's pokerface was impeccable.

"God," muttered Lyfin, readjusting himself into a snoozing position. "What happened to Mr. I-have-no-libido? Mr. I'm-above-your-petty-human-needs?"

"I am above your petty human needs."

"Oh, okay, so if I do this then you won't – "

Xaanik growled quietly and the pretzel readjusted itself into a delightfully familiar formation that still got Lyfin's blood singing, after all this time. "I may not be good at cuddling, but I make up for it."

"Oh yes. Yes, you do," Lyfin said happily into Xaanik's hair, and they danced a very, very old dance indeed.

If you feel discouraged and there's a lack of colour here
Please don't worry, lover, it's really bursting at the seams