Snippet #1

[bubosquared]

I'm cleaning out my HD, and found a few snippets of stories I'm never gonna finish. I'm posting them now.

This was supposed to become the sequel to Comfort. I haven't worked on it since mi-November 2000, so I think it's safe to say it's not gonna go anywhere. It's kinda sappy and weird. :)

Comfort II

The vma's are over, and Em's in his dressing room, taking a shower. He wanted to clean up and relax, but he's still tense.

The constant fights with Kim are eating at him; the fear that he might never see his daughter again, the possibility of jailtime; it's all working together to exhaust him.

As he gets out of the shower, he startles, because Fred's suddenly standing there. Em drops his towel in surprise. "What are you doing here?" Blushing, he grabs the towel and wraps it around his waist again. He realises it's a silly thing to do; Fred's seen him naked. Hell, he's done more than that.

"I came to say hi; ask if you wanted to go for a drink or something." Fred looked at him closely. "You look like shit."

"Thanks, asshole, that's just what I needed to hear." He runs his hand over his still-wet hair and shivers. The air is cold on his dripping wet body, and he wishes Fred would leave, so he can dry off and get dressed.

"Do you mind?" He frowns. "I'd like to get dressed here."

"Hey, who's stopping you?" Fred spreads his arms in a be-my-guest gesture and smiles, obviously amused by Em's discomfort.

Em tries his best white trash glare on Fred, but the other man doesn't budge. "You're gonna catch a cold like that. C'me here." He grabs one of the large towels lying on a chair and wraps it around Em.

Em closes his eyes and relaxes as he feels the towel being draped around him, feels Fred's arms wrap around him, holding him, protecting him. Sighing, he relaxes for the first time in days, letting his head rest on Fred's shoulder.

"'s Nice," he sighs.

"Yeah?" Fred murmurs, gently starting to dry him off. "Just relax, let me take care of you."

Em starts to protest, wants to say that he can towel himself off, but Fred ignores him.

"Fred," he starts, but Fred effectively cuts him off by throwing the towel over his head and rubbing his hair dry. "Hey!" He protests, but it's muffled by the towel and he knows it doesn't sound convincing at all.

"Shut up," Fred scolds good-naturedly. He finishes with Em's hair and starts rubbing his torso.

"I can do this myself, you know," Em says, but he doesn't try to get away from Fred's soothing hands.

"I know, but I wanna do this for you. So shut up already." He pokes Em's ribs with one finger for emphasis, and that *does* make Em twitch and jerk away from Fred. Fred grins mischievously. "I didn't know you were ticklish."

Em glares. "I'm not."

Fred makes a grab for him and digs his fingers in his sides, making Em collapse with helpless laughter. "Sounds like you're pretty ticklish to me."

"All right, okay, I'm ticklish. And if you ever tell anyone, you're dead, you hear?"

"Yes, dear," Fred says with a mock-angelic face. He starts to go back to drying off Em, but Em grabs a pillow off the nearby couch and hits Fred.

"Idiot. What are we, married?"

Fred grins up at him from where's his kneeling at Em's feet; a wide, brilliant smile. He finishes and stands up, once again wrapping the towel around Em. "There."

"Are you gonna dress me now, too?" Em asks, amused by Fred's mother hen behaviour.

Fred looks him over consideringly. "Actually, I think I kinda like you like this."

>