New Genna City

The Cold Reptile

"Yeah, I did. I thought you'd never come back," he says quietly, and you reach up and pull him down to your eye level, looking him sternly in the eye before planting a kiss on his thin, hard lips.

"I'd never do that like the others did, you know that already," you say, and he smiles and nod. "Plus, I was only gone overnight." Once again, he smiles, and you sigh.

"It got so cold, though. I couldn't figure out how to make it warm, so I hid under the blankets," he points a large clawed finger around the corner into the living room and you see every blanket you own in a large, unruly pile.

"You know you're cleaning that up, right?" you say, and he rumbles acquiescence. Abruptly, he turns and picks you back up, rumbling deep and holding you close. You hold onto him for a bit as he nuzzles close; you'd missed him, too. As it turns out, you'd gotten so used to his hulking mass next to you while you sleep that you had a seriously hard time falling asleep last night. After a minute, he starts to wander toward the blanket pile with you, and you have to stop him.

"Hang on, hang on, I gotta grab something," you say, and he kneels down with you in his arms next to your bags. Your eyebrow quirks as you think that it would have just been easier to set you down, but... oh, well. He bends down and you grab a large plastic bag from the department store out of town.

"Alright, goofball, you can carry me off again," you say, and he rumbles happily in his chest, making you vibrate slightly. You giggle as he almost struts to the blanket pile. As he settles into them, you're amazed, as you always are, at how he can hold you securely while doing stuff. When he finally stops burrowing, and goes to lean into you, you put your hand on his chin to stop him. He looks at you, confused.

"Before you get super settled, I wanted you to know that I got you something," you explain, and his face lights up.

"Wha- Really? You did? What is it?" You feel a shudder run through him in his excitement, and hand the bag to him.

"Go ahead and open it, and find out," you say, and after carefully setting you in his lap, he gingerly takes the bag from your hands and shreds the bag around the box inside. He holds it up to his face, excited. You see his face change to confusion.

"A blanket? But I already have blankets," he gestures around at the nest, and you shake your head.

"No, it's a different kind of blanket. It's called an electric blanket," you explain, and he just stares for a moment before carefully setting the box aside.

"That sounds painful."

You quietly pinch the bridge of your nose, smiling at his adorable frustrating self.

"No, it's... just hand it here," you say testily, and he give you the box. You open the packaging and drag the cord to a nearby outlet. You turn back to see him nervously eyeing the folded blanket in your hands. You flick the switch to the "low" setting and wait for it to start warming in your hands. He stares at you, his face both curious and confused.

"Here, catch!" you say as you toss it at him. He jumps and falls over as he tries to dodge the blanket as it flies toward him. It lands wide open on his face and chest, and he struggles for a moment before relaxing.

"You're mean," you hear his muffled accusation through the blanket, and you start to laugh. He lies still under the blanket, and you try to get a hold on your giggles.

"Look, it's an electric heating blanket," you say, lifting a corner and looking at his face. His pouting face was adorable, but it was clearly about to break. You slip the blanket down over his abdomen and chest, and you hear him sigh in pleasure.

"I got it for you because winter's coming, and I don't want you to freeze. I also will still have to work, so I won't be able to cuddle with you all the time to keep you from hibernating," you say softly, stroking his face. He looks over at you and smiles for a minute before his brow knits and he looks troubled.

"What's wrong?" you ask him, and he bites his lip.

"Are you not wanting to cuddle me anymore?" His eyes look so sad. You feel your heart twist.

"That's not what I'm saying, you goof," you lightly smack his shoulder. "I'm just saying that I can't be cuddling you at all hours to keep you from hibernating. Plus, what if I'm out of town for more than a night? You'd be frozen by the time I got back," you say, stroking his face. "This is just a way for you to stay warm while I'm having to do stuff, by no means is this me saying I don't want to cuddle you." You kiss him, and he grins.

"Well, that's a relief," he says, and suddenly picks you up and places you on top of the blanket over his chest, his hand resting on your back. You consider scolding him for his manhandling you again, but you let it go.

After all, this was pretty comfortable. You snuggle into the blanket, feeling him rumble pleasantly through it as his other hand comes up to cover the rest of you. You sigh warmly; it was great to be home.