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Chris was sitting on his couch after smoking. He was feeling floaty and warm and at fucking peace.
Adrian was feeding chips to Eagly, sprawled out on the floor. Chris didn’t mind the background noise of Eagly’s screeching and the snap of his beak. He didn't even mind Adrian’s giggling or his stupid commentary.
It grew quiet for a moment before the couch cushions shifted. He glanced to his left and saw Adrian sitting beside him with a stupid grin. He snorted and leaned his head back, letting his eyes fall closed. He could hear the clicking of Eagly’s talons as he moved down the hallway towards the bedroom.
The cushions shifted again before he felt a weight on his lap. His eyes blinked open. Adrian was stretching out his lanky body along the empty expanse of the couch, his head and shoulders propped in Peacemaker’s lap.
Chris arched an eyebrow.
Adrian only smiled wider. He was in a dad sweater and jeans, his shoes kicked off and black ankle socks showing. His glasses were perched on his nose and curls of dark hair were falling across his forehead.
Vig took Peacemaker’s limp hand and placed it on top of his head. His hair was soft to the touch.
He wiggled his body with pleading eyes.
Chris scoffed. “What are you? A dog?”
“Do you want me to be?”
“No, you idiot.”
His eyes seemed to grow even bigger as he peered up at him before Chris scowled. He finally relented and started to run his fingertips through Adrian’s hair, his thumb brushing against the smooth skin on his forehead. Adrian’s eyes fluttered closed behind his glasses, his lips curling up softly.
It was hard for Chris to believe that this was Gut Chase’s little brother. Adrian used to follow them around everywhere, begging to be included. His big eyes were always focused on Chris, even then.
Chris never gave him much thought. Adrian was small and nerdy and super strange. He would have never in a million years thought Adrian would grow up to become a crime fighter for justice like Vigilante. Chris never thought he would become one of the people closest to him, either. Not to mention, someone who had their head resting in his lap currently.
Adrian’s chest was rising steadily in deep, even breaths. He had fallen asleep.
Chris let his index finger dip down to trace an eyebrow and then the wireframe of his glasses. He swallowed before lifting Adrian’s head as gently as he could and standing before easing him back down onto the cushions. He slipped the other man’s glasses off, folding them and setting them aside on the table.
He turned the lights off and walked into his bedroom. Chris shed his clothing and slipped underneath the cool sheets with a sigh. He burrowed into the mattress, smashing his face into his pillow.
He’s pretty sure he had fallen asleep and stayed that way for a few hours when he felt movement and heard whispering he couldn’t understand. The lamp on the nightstand was turned on and he groaned before wincing at the light.
He forced his eyes open. Adrian was sitting at the edge of the bed, his glasses back on his stupid face, and his eyes were wide and pleading.
Chris groaned again. “What the fuck do you want? I’m trying to sleep, asshole.”
Adrian’s voice was hushed and wavering as if that somehow excused the fact. “Can I sleep in here with you? I don’t like it when I wake up and you’re not there.”
Chris glared. “I don’t care where you sleep. Just turn the fucking light off and shut the fuck up.”
His face brightened. “Okay, awesome. Yeah, I’m going to be as silent as a mouse. It’s about to get so fucking dark in here. Don’t worry.”
Peacemaker sighed. He rubbed his hand over his face, burrowing back underneath his blankets. The lamp finally clicked off, submerging them in blackness. The mattress shifted again, the sheets rustling.
What felt like a fucking ice cube brushed up against his calf and Chris jolted away and hissed an expletive. “What the hell was that? Was that your foot?”
There was silence and then more rustling. Adrian finally whispered, “Oh, sorry. Yeah, my feet get like no circulation down there.”
“Why aren’t you wearing your socks?”
Chris heard an obnoxious scoff from the other man. “I’m not a fucking maniac. Who wears socks to sleep? Are you wearing socks?”
“No, I’m not a fucking maniac. And I hate to break it to you, pal, but if I knew anyone who kept their socks on in the bedroom, it would be you.”
Adrian tried to stifle a giggle and ended up laughing loudly.
Chris sighed. Some days he missed prison. “Just keep your frostbite toes over there, okay?”
He giggled again. “Okay, sorry. You’re just really warm. My body is like subconsciously being drawn toward yours for extra body heat, you know?”
“No, I don’t fucking know. What happened to you being as quiet as a mouse?”
“Oh, right. Sorry.” Adrian’s voice was a whisper and his tone was overly apologetic.
There was finally stillness and silence once again. Chris felt his body relaxing into the mattress.
“What kind of animal are you?”
Chris was going to kill him.
“Do you want to go back on the couch?”
“No.” Rustling. “But mice have fur to keep them warm, you know? I have no such thing. Just this thin blanket. But you…you have all that muscle to keep you warm. If you were like a bear or something, wouldn’t you want to protect a defenseless mouse from the bitter cold by allowing it to share in your warmth?”
“Dude, what the fuck? No. If I was a bear, I’d probably eat the mouse or I wouldn’t even notice it because it’s like small as fuck.”
Adrian hummed. “That’s true. Okay, then what about if I was a girl bear and you were a big, strong guy bear and it was winter and I didn’t have a cave for hibernation. Would you let me share yours?”
Chris felt like he was losing what few brain cells he had left. “Again, what the fuck? Why would you be a girl bear? And aren’t I already letting you share in my warmth or whatever? You’re sleeping in my cave right now. This is my house and my fucking bed.”
“Yeah, but the girl bear would want to cuddle with you for warmth, you know? She would probably want you to wrap your big paws around her and nuzzle her neck. Something like that.”
Chris yawned, hating his life. “If the girl bear had any sense, yeah. She would definitely be into me and want to cuddle. But there are no girl bears, Adrian. We’re not fucking bears, okay?”
There was a pause of silence.
“Obviously. But if you were the guy bear…would you want to cuddle for warmth?”
Chris frowned, trying to parse what the fuck was happening right now. “I guess? I mean, if we were both fucking cold and the girl bear was hot, sure. We could cuddle.”
Adrian inhaled sharply, moving closer. “Well, it’s too dark to see. So you can’t really tell if she’s hot. You’re nice and warm but the girl bear is freezing to death and would do anything for a little bear-to-bear contact. What’s your response?”
He sighed. “I guess I would cuddle with her and hope that by morning she was either gone or she was hot and down to fuck.”
“She’s definitely down to fuck.” The words are said so quickly that Adrian’s tongue trips over the syllables.
“Okay. We would cuddle and go to sleep. We would fuck the next morning. Are you done now?”
Silence.
Chris blew out an exasperated breath, closing his eyes. Finally.
He almost jumped out of his skin as a cold body pressed against him. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“I’m the girl bear, remember?”
God, he wanted to strangle him. He wanted to push him off the bed. He wanted to do a lot of things. “Okay, fine. I don’t care about your stupid bears. Just go to sleep, you irritating fuck.”
Adrian just hummed and turned on his side, his back pressed to Chris’ chest. A hand wrapped around Peacemaker’s wrist and brought his arm over Adrian’s stomach. Cold toes were tucked underneath one of his calves, nudging Chris’ leg over Adrian’s so he was all but spooning him.
A soft sigh. “You’re so warm, guy bear.”
Chris huffed, his breath hitting the back of Adrian’s neck. “You’re so fucking weird, man.”
“You like that I’m weird.” Chris could hear the smile in his voice.
“You wish.” He pinched the skin on Adrian’s forearm.
Adrian exhaled, pinching the skin on Chris’ wrist. “I do.”
Chris snorted. “Can we go to sleep now?”
“Do you, though? Like me? I know I’m your second best friend after Eagly but is that just because I’m always here or is it because you want me to be?”
Chris hated when Adrian did this. Adrian always preached about keeping your emotions and your conscience locked away in a steel vault and then he went and dredged up conversations revolving around the same bullshit.
It’d be a lot simpler if Chris didn’t like Adrian at all. If Adrian had forgotten about Peacemaker when he was locked up and Chris could have come home to no friends at all. He missed when he could still be a dick to Adrian when the other man was acting all soft and plaintive and Chris wouldn't feel bad about it afterward. Chris could admit that he was a bit emotionally repressed and choked by the throes of toxic masculinity at times but he had never been good at hiding what he felt.
His voice was surly as he said, “I wouldn’t have let you stick around if I didn’t like you. Now go to bed, girl bear.”
He could almost hear Adrian swallow. “Are we still going to be bears in the morning?”
Chris’ heart twisted and spiked and churned. It was his turn to swallow, then. He tightened his hold around Adrian’s waist and felt his breathing stutter at the embrace. His lips brushed the back of Adrian’s neck.
He murmured, “Yeah. We can be whatever kind of animal you want, okay?”
Adrian’s hands covered Chris’s fingers, tracing his nail beds and tapping his knuckles.
Chris whispered softly, as if only for himself. “We can be anything we want.”