>> “Hey. I mean to. And I don’t mind the shirtlessness at all."

Zinnia was all smiles, which simply made the prawn even more flustered.

"O-oh! Dat's good!" the prawn chorused back. The tone of relief had too brittle an edge. Jack tried to wriggle out of her tank top, but her shakiness made it difficult and the fact that an arm spine got caught didn't help. Zinnia tugged at the hem, which sent Jack's heart hammering away. Deft hands helped free the prawn from her shirt, leaving her confused owlish. Her pupils had dilated slightly, brow furrowed. She managed a small, "Shanks."

>> “Yeah, light please... Can you see in the dark? No fair!”

Jack answered with a soft yet mischievous chuckle at Zinnia's realization.

"Sun colors are diss-erent," Jack rumbled, reaching over to switch off the light, "Uzzer-wise yes." She carefully maneuvered herself closer to Zinnia, laying on her side. With the spines and gaunt hips, it was easier and more comfortable for the prawn to lay on her stomach or back. But now, she just wanted to look at the young woman beside her.

A careful primary hand trailed over Zinnia's hair, careful not to dislodge the straps for Zinnia's mask. Jack laid so that their faces were level.

"Is hard to sink dis is real..." Jack murmured, "I'n... glad."

That was all the prawn could muster the guts to say, as she gently ran her hand over Zinnia's hair. She wished she had human hands...you can't comb fat centipede-like fingers then a person's hair. Such affectionate gestures were reserved for normal hands.

>> “Can I hold your little hand?”

"Sure," purred the prawn. While a primary hand could easily cover Zinnia's face, Jack's secondary hands and arms were like those of a small child. Jack reached a secondary hands towards Zinnia. They could figure this out.

The prawn leaned forward and nibbled lightly at the other mutant's forehead, sharing her version of a forehead kiss.

She could see in the dark. Super not fair. And in colour?! The jealousy was vast.

But then Jac was laying face-to-face and sweeping her hair back from her forehead. She would have leaned in for more smooches, but her mask was a distinct set-back. Still forehead mumblings were nice too and she shivered a little under the light touches before scooching in to take Jac’s second set of hands. It was… unusual, to say the least, but how many mutants got a normal life these days?

She lay her head against Jac’s shoulder and stared into her eyes (or maybe it was her mouth, she couldn’t quite tell in the dark). Her mask steamed up on every out breath, which sort of dampened her mood a little. Visible emotion such as fogging glasses or nosebleeds were all well and good in cartoons, but in the real world it was just steamy and gross.

“I’m glad too.”

And she was.

--Fade to sleepy cuddles--

Zinn’s eyes opened slowly in the dim light of morning. The ceiling looked different and the bed felt distinctly lumpy. This was not her room on placement. She cast her eyes around and began a yawn. She recognised the coffee table- pushed aside, so she must have been at her parents. She rolled the other way to turn off her machine and was confronted with a bare chested prawn in her bed, partially tangled in pipes. Her mouth snapped shut. So it hadn’t been a dream. A smile slid across her face as she pulled the mask over her head and leant past the rainbow of prettiness to turn the machine off. If that put her snuggled up on the chest of Jac then so be it. She worked to untangle the pipes from the face spikes, careful to avoid the sensitive antennae.

She watched Jac’s face for signs that she was awake before scooching up to gently bump foreheads.

“Morning you.”

It was going to be an excellent day.

It was fulfilling and dreamless sleep, which were difficult to come by in Jack's experience. Jack's primary hands were tucked under her head, one leg behind the other, form relaxed. Despite the slight mess of pipes and cords, the prawn was at ease and remained sleeping until Zinnia began dislodging them. The spines along the ridge of her jaw accidentally held onto the tube, and cause Jack to nod slightly, stirring her from sleep.

The prawn rumbled in confusion, and confused "harump" at the awakening. Squinted eyes roved about for the offender. Her annoyance dissipated when she realized it was Zinnia. A heavy (unhelpful) primary hand attempted to help brush the pipes free, but eventually admitted defeat and found a place to rest on Zinnia's hip. She was too tired to help dislodge tubes or wires.

>> "Morning you."

"Is it?" Jack rumbled back. Her friend had scooted closer, so the prawn took the opportunity to (carefully) wrap herself around Zinnia. Primary arms enfolded around Zinnia, and Jack rested her chin atop Zinnia's head.

"I's gonna... not acknowledge... nor-ning... gonna hit duh snooze dut-ton on duh day..." she purred. Her hold on Zinnia wasn't tight, and her friend could have squirmed free with ease. Jack was still too sleepy and ragdoll-y to put up much a fight in any regards.

Grumpy lavender eyes changed to recognition and softness. Once the pipes were all out of the way and the mask deposited on the floor she relaxed into the hold. It made her feel safe and protected. Hitting snooze on the day suited her just fine. She wasn’t rostered on to give her time to complete her write-up of the placement, so she didn’t have anywhere to be. Except maybe a breakfast bagel later. Man she had missed good bagels.
---xxx--- Some snooze later ---xxx---

There was a certain first-thing-in-the-morning need she had been ignoring for some time now. It was pleasant and cozy snuggled up within the powerful rainbow arms, but there were some things that just needed doing.

Like bathroom breaks.

She wriggled out, careful not to snag herself on the spines and wobbled to her feet. Pillow nests were not the most stable of footings.

“I’ll be back in a sec.”

She made her way to the bathroom and dealt with that pressing issue, before washing her face and quickly brushing her teeth. She was always a bit paranoid that her morning breath would be worse because of her mutation, even though as far as she could tell it wasn’t.

She hesitated for a moment at the foot of their nest before edging towards the kitchen. Caffinated beverages were calling to her.

“You wanna cuppa?”

Some things she had definitely picked up from her British father, like pressing tea on visitors.

If there was one thing Jack was not, it was a morning person. Despite the second round of dozing-off, it did nothing to improve her wakefulness. If anything it made her more sleepy. Jack felt Zinnia wriggling free what literally felt like seconds after deciding to go back to sleep. The prawn begrudgingly lifted her arm so that her dear friend could free herself.

>> “I’ll be back in a sec.”

"Mhmm," Jack acknowledged. She rolled onto her stomach and decided to put-off joininig polite society for a while longer. Getting up meant putting on clothes, meant functioning, and the prawn was simply unprepared for such responsibilities yet.

>> “You wanna cuppa?”

Jack pried her eyes open, her head lolling in Zinnia's direction.

"Yus 'lease," was the garbled response. It was so hard to coordinate her mouthparts first thing in the morning. Jack wasn't even sure of what a "cuppa" was, but she didn't want to seem impolite. Jack wrapped her arms around a seat cushion and, laying on her stomach, stole occasional glances in Zinnia's direction. If Zinnia made motions to leave, Jack would rouse herself, but the prawn otherwise saw little motivation to get out of the pillow nest.

Her eyes blinked all out-of-sync and it was all Zinnia could do to not let out an audible ‘N’Awww!’. She agreed to the cuppa though, so Zinnia made kitchen-based movements until there was a steaming cup each of coffee and cocoa. Careful not to spill she shimmied back under the covers and offered the cocoa to her sleepy nest-mate.

She sipped her own drink in happy silence. The caffeine worked its way through her body until she felt human again. Well, mutant again, but you know how the saying goes. She let out a contented yawn and stretched her head to either side. For sleeping on the floor with someone made of equal parts shell and spines she felt surprisingly good. Not stiff at all.

“Did you sleep okay?”

She continued sipping the coffee, the heat tingling in her fingers. This could well be a most excellent day. If she was ballsy enough to clarify exactly what this was here. For some it might be obvious… but Jac was a girl, and a shy one at that which meant that Zinnia had to be the brave one in this department.

“So, ah. Are we dating now?”

She waited for what felt like an age, but might actually have been milliseconds.

“Do you think we could be?”

Smooth as a peach. God she hoped that peach wouldn’t be splatted on the sidewalk. What if she was too forward? What if everything was too fast? What if Jac wanted to practice with her to be confident when it came to real kisses with someone else? The remains of the coffee met their forbearers in her stomach where they roiled in suspense.

The prawn purred as her friend wriggled back under the covers and offered the mug of cocoa to the still-cocooned-in-blankets prawn. Heavy hands clumsily balaced the cocoa between them, and Jack lifted her head just enough to take a sip. It was hot, but not unpleasant.

>> “Did you sleep okay?”

"Mhmm." the prawn purred. She took another sip before setting the cup aside.

>> “So, ah. Are we dating now?”

Cocoa went down the wrong pipe and Jack coughed. They hadn't really gone on a date, yet, though. Could you be dating without dating? Who the heck posed that kind of question first thing after you woke-up.

>> “Do you think we could be?”

"L-like, uh... like... girl-sriends?" Jack reiterated, gingerly drawing herself into a sitting position. The topic... the idea... was so foreign. She'd seen people all over each other at Chrysalis a thousand times, kissing each other and goodness knows what else. A kiss didn't always mean something and maybe Zinnia had just been lonely, missed company, didn't see Jack like that. Bt the fact that she was asking... that made things different.

Jack had gone to bed just grateful to have someone that close to her, no matter how they felt about her. And now, here she was, being asked by a cherished friend if they were dating.

"I sink so," Jack mumbled, punctuating her response with another sip of cocoa, "Is you sink so."

She didn't want to read too far into it if Zinnia wasn't.

She was coughing and choking and Zinnia had the sudden realisation that not only had she killed her friend but she had killed her on her parents’ living room floor and there was no way she would be able to move her from there… She needed a wheelie chair. No, thank goodness, the coughing fit was over. Phew.

Jac caught her breath enough to clarify and Zinnia nodded over the top of her mug, somehow managing not to spill the whole contents down her front. Just.

She thought so, if she thought so. Well she did think so. She grinned and planted a kiss on top of Jac’s bald head, careful to miss the antennae.

“I’m game if you’re game.”

Girlfriend. She couldn’t think of a better rainbow shrimp to share that title with. She snuggled as far down in the covers as the coffee cup allowed and wriggled up against her girlfriend. Yes, this was indeed going to be an excellent day.

[Fin]