Fic: Not All About Life And Death (Sheppard/Zelenka, NC-17)
Title: Not All About Life And Death
Author: padfootthegrim
Recipient: penknife
Pairing: Sheppard/Zelenka
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis. I'm just playing.
Author Notes: Written for the 2010 sga_santa. My prompt was John/Radek, friends with benefits, slice of life, maybe a little top!Radek. Hope this works for you! Happy Christmas! Beta by mckaysmirth. Any remaining mistakes are mine.
Word Count: 2,553
Summary: Life on Atlantis isn't all about near death experiences.
---
Radek was bleary eyed as he stumped to his door in the middle of the night. The chime was ringing like crazy, but Radek wasn't worried. If it was an emergency, someone would have called him. Yawning, he waved his hand over the door sensor. No, not a city emergency. More likely it was... "John," Radek sighed, taking in the grinning, spiky haired, sweaty Colonel's appearance. "Ronon again?"
"Yeah," John drawled, and he was doing the leaning thing; sprawled against the door frame with one hip cocked out. Radek's fingers twitched, wanting to touch. He refrained, but did let his eyes slide from John's hip up across his sweat stained shirt and finally to his face. John's bright eyes shown with amusement back at Radek. John cocked his head and gestured past Radek. "Mind if I come in?"
Radek stepped back and allowed John to come inside. "Did Rodney disable your shower again?"
John laughed. "Nah, I finally got away from Ronon and..." he shrugged, "felt like coming here is all."
Radek knew what that meant. He'd learned a lot about John Sheppard since they'd started this thing of theirs. Fighting, sparring, or exercise in general got the colonel horny. "Huh," Radek tapped his lip and examined John a little closer. The other man twitched a little under Radek's gaze, but held still. "It is the middle of the night," Radek pointed out. "You cannot fall asleep here."
"I know," John said with a shrug. "We don't have to do anything. We can just hang out."
"You hang out with Rodney and Ronon," Radek reminded him, confused, "not with me. You come to me when you want sex. Quite good, slightly kinky sex."
Radek was gratified to see John blush a little. "I know that's the arrangement, but we are friends too."
"Ano, we are," Radek agreed, rubbing his eyes. "However, is 0440 and I have a meeting at 0700 with Rodney and, horror of horrors, a group of botanists. Do you understand what an early meeting with botanists is like with Rodney around?"
"I can imagine," John replied dryly. "Alright, I'll leave you to get your sleep." He moved closer, stepping into Radek's space. Radek blinked up at him and John smiled. "Tomorrow?"
"As long as I can escape the labs, then of course," Radek assured him.
"Good," John leaned in and kissed Radek; just a fast, hot press of lips, and then he was gone. Radek opened his eyes in time to see the door slide shut after the colonel.
The next day, John's team had been called out to rescue Major Ferreh's team from a group of natives bent on breeding with Ferreh's scientist, Dr. Sevoir. "Welcome to the club," Rodney snickered at Damian Sevoir as the man slunk into the labs after his check up.
"Yeh've had th' pleasure then, I take it?" Dr. Sevoir asked. Radek was glad the Australian had been in the city for over a year now. His accent was getting easier for Radek to ignore.
"Rodney has not," Radek chuckled. "He gets passed over for Colonel Sheppard when natives want gene carrier."
Rodney glared at Radek as Dr. Sevoir laughed. "I won't hesitate to give you both latrine duty, you know," Rodney threatened. "Someone's got to clean the lab bathrooms and it certainly isn't going to be me."
Radek rolled his eyes and turned back to his computer. He only had a little more work to finish before he could justify a break. Focusing on his screen, he let Rodney and Damian's bickering sink into the background. Twenty minutes later, Radek smiled, closed down his laptop, and got up.
"Where yeh goin'?" Dr. Sevoir asked.
"I believe it is time for lunch," Radek answered. Damian waved him off and Radek took the opportunity to escape.
oOo
Radek found John in the mess, poking suspiciously at some kind of soup. "What is it?" Radek asked as he set his tray down across the table.
John looked up and smiled. "Hard to say," he answered, stirring the soup again. "Daedalus got delayed on the way here. The cooks are improvising."
"Hm," Radek eyed the soup skeptically. He turned back to his own food, grateful that he'd gone with one of the MREs. "I have chocolate in my quarters," he offered.
"Perfect," John set his spoon down in the soup with an ominous plop. "Let's go."
They made good time back to Radek's quarters. "I do not have much time," Radek told John as the door shut behind them.
"Don't need a lot of time," John answered with a smirk. "Let me suck you off, we'll share the chocolate, and I'll be on my way."
Radek growled. "On your knees," he ordered. John's eyes darkened and he sank down to the floor. "Good," Radek praised. He reached forward and stroked the fingers of one hand through John's hair. John sighed and leaned into the touch like a cat. He made no move to reach for Radek; his hands stayed palm down on his thighs. "I see you like this," Radek reached for the fly of his trousers as he stared down at John. "No one else gets this."
"Yeah," John sighed happily. "I don't do this with anyone else."
Radek had no delusions about what he and John were, but John's words still caused something angry and possessive to coil in his gut. It was one of the things they never talked about; Radek didn't want to know if John fooled around with anyone else in the city. Quickly, he popped the button of his trousers and pulled his cock out through the fly of his boxers.
John stared at it hungrily, watching Radek stroke himself. "Please?" he asked, not taking his gaze away from Radek's dick. "May I suck you?"
"Ano," Radek answered, "you may."
As John leaned in, Radek tightened his fingers in John's hair and hitched his hips forward slightly, letting the head of his cock bump against John's lower lip. Radek felt John shudder as his mouth opened. His tongue touched Radek's foreskin before John took the whole head in his mouth with a soft groan, which Radek echoed.
As John took him deeper, Radek slid his other hand along the side of John's face, feeling how his cheeks hollowed as he sucked. John's mouth was made for this; for Radek to thrust his hips forward, fucking into John. For his part, John simply moaned and relaxed, giving up control to Radek.
"You look so good like this," Radek told him as he moved a little faster. "You submit so beautifully, John." John's eyes opened and he looked up the length of Radek's body at him, but he never tried to pull away. His pupils were blown wide and he sucked a little harder as Radek paused with just the head in John's mouth. "You want this constantly, yes?" Radek asked, savoring the contrast between the cool air and the wet heat of John's mouth. John whimpered softly and his eyes fluttered closed again as Radek pressed back inside deeply. "If you could, you would always be on your knees for me."
On the next thrust, Radek paused for a moment and groaned as he felt John swallow against the head of his cock. He pulled back after a few seconds, though; neither he nor John were interested in choking. He knew John must be uncomfortably hard in his tight BDUs, but John wouldn't touch himself without Radek's permission. "You could come from this, couldn't you?" Radek asked softly.
John's tongue swiped against the vein on the underside of Radek's dick, and he could feel the vibrations as John moaned in answer. He could, but he wouldn't. Not until Radek told him to. Radek felt himself tense, the heat in his spine pooling in his groin as he was pulled closer and closer to the edge. He knew John expected him to come in his mouth, but today Radek had other plans.
Finally, Radek used his grip in John's hair to pull him off. John whined in protest, fighting a little to get back, but then he looked up at Radek's face. "Close your eyes, John," Radek's voice was low as he let go of John's hair and took himself in hand.
"Oh, God, Radek," John groaned. Radek watched his eyes close, even though he knew John wanted to watch.
"So obedient," Radek praised. He was close, so close, and having John on his knees in front of him, eyes closed and waiting for Radek to come on his face... "John," Radek grunted as he came; stripping a line of white across John's upper lip and cheek. John shuddered, a moan escaping his slightly parted lips as Radek jerked again, more come landing on John's face.
When he was done, Radek tucked himself away and watched John lick at his upper lip, collecting what he could reach. "Open your eyes, John," Radek said softly. John looked up at him again, his eyes dark with need. Radek reached out and petted John's hair for a moment, then trailed a finger through the come on John's cheek. "Jerk yourself off," Radek commanded as he slid his finger down and across John's lower lip.
Even as John opened his mouth and sucked Radek's finger, his hands were busy opening his pants and pulling his dick out. He quickly jerked off as Radek slid his finger out of John's mouth to collect more come. "You love this," Radek observed, slowly fucking John's mouth with his finger. "You love showing me how desperate you are."
John moaned around Radek's finger as his hand sped up. "Please," John begged when Radek pulled his finger out again.
"Ano," Radek swiped at the final line of come high on John's cheek bone and pressed two fingers back into John's mouth. "You have earned it. Come."
oOo
Radek both looked forward to Rest Days and dreaded them at the same time. Of course he enjoyed himself; chess club and sleeping in and the mess always at least attempted to do a special something for supper, but sometimes what Radek really needed to relax was to work. Once Elizabeth discovered that many of the scientists still went to the labs on Rest Day, she had ordered Rodney to lock them down. Her intentions were good, of course, but she didn't not truly understand how people like Radek and Rodney felt about science.
Radek always made the most of it, though. This time, he was off to the mainland with Stackhouse, Parrish, Damian Sevoir, Ronon, and Evan Lorne, who always seemed to follow Parrish around like a puppy whenever he got the chance. Ronon was going hunting, while Parrish and Lorne explored a new area far to the east of the land mass. Radek tagged along just to get away from the city for a while.
Nate Stackhouse happily accommodated Damian and Radek's request to help them with some stress tests on the jumper, so for the first hour after they dropped the others off, the scientists took readings while Nate flew the jumper in a vertical climb out of the atmosphere and then took different angles of descent. They moved on to battle maneuvers afterwards until Radek began feeling queasy from watching the ground and sky and starts whip past the window. "Alright, sergeant, I believe that is enough," he told Nate.
"Yeh sure?" Damian grinned at him from over his laptop. "Yeh look a little pale there, Doc. Don' want yeh teh chuck in 'ere."
At Damian's words, Nate turned back to look at them. "Yeah, no throwing up in my jumper. I'll land us and you can go walk around."
Once they were on the ground, Radek opened the hatch and sat on the edge, one leg up on the ramp and his knee curled against his chest as he leaned back on the hydraulic arm. The fresh air instantly made him feel better. He knew it was just the visual of everything spinning that made his stomach clench up; because of the inertial dampeners, they didn't feel anything when the jumper moved. Radek closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As much as he loved Atlantis, he was happy to get onto solid ground again. The air quality was different; not just salt air, but also dirt and forest.
"'s pretty 'ere," Damian's voice broke into Radek's thoughts. Radek looked up to see Damian standing behind him, leaning against the same hydraulic arm with his shoulder. He was looking out at the forest, one hand stuffed in his pocket.
"Ano," Radek agreed.
The two were silent for a few minutes before they heard something coming toward them through the brush. "Oop, 'ey Stackers," Damian called, turning to look back in the jumper. "Company. Yeh better come an protect us."
Nate emerged from the jumper just as Ronon came out of the underbrush, an animal slung over his shoulders. He grinned when he saw the three of them. "Hunting's good here," he told them as he let the dead animal down at the base of the ramp.
"Looks like pig," Radek observed.
"Should cook that 'ere," Damian suggested, "take it back to th' city an everyone'll want some." Radek watched Nate and Ronon exchange a look before they both headed off to collect firewood.
oOo
"Hey, where have you been all day?"
Radek looked up in surprise as John sat down across from him in the mess. The dinner rush had passed before Nate got them all back to the city, which was just as well since they were all stuffed from Ronon's field cooking. John had a piece of what looked to be cake on a plate in front of him and he shared it with Radek as Radek told him about the trip to the mainland.
It occurred to Radek that compared to the stress and uncertainty of the first year, now no one blinked twice at all the weirdness. It was all just day to day happenings now, as normal as picking up a coffee at Starbucks or watching television on the couch had been while they were on Earth. Even this thing Radek had with John, whatever it really was, was good just as it was. Radek didn't really have any urge to change it usually. Only in select moments during, he wished sometimes that it was more. Luckily, that urge usually passed fairly quickly.
"Hey, you're not stealing my chess victim, are you?" Rodney snapped, coming up behind John and glaring at Radek.
Radek simply laughed and shook his head. "Ne, Rodney, though I believe it is usually John who wins, is it not?"
Rodney sputtered as John smirked at Radek and stood up. "Alright, buddy, let's go so I can kick your ass."
Radek watched them go before he bussed John's tray and headed back to his quarters. He took a quick shower and curled up in his bed with his laptop to prepare for the next day. Not long after he started typing on his computer, he felt his eyes getting heavy. Finally admitting defeat, he turned off his computer and curled around his pillow.
Tomorrow they may be facing another life or death emergency, but for now, the entire city felt relaxed.
Author: padfootthegrim
Recipient: penknife
Pairing: Sheppard/Zelenka
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis. I'm just playing.
Author Notes: Written for the 2010 sga_santa. My prompt was John/Radek, friends with benefits, slice of life, maybe a little top!Radek. Hope this works for you! Happy Christmas! Beta by mckaysmirth. Any remaining mistakes are mine.
Word Count: 2,553
Summary: Life on Atlantis isn't all about near death experiences.
---
Radek was bleary eyed as he stumped to his door in the middle of the night. The chime was ringing like crazy, but Radek wasn't worried. If it was an emergency, someone would have called him. Yawning, he waved his hand over the door sensor. No, not a city emergency. More likely it was... "John," Radek sighed, taking in the grinning, spiky haired, sweaty Colonel's appearance. "Ronon again?"
"Yeah," John drawled, and he was doing the leaning thing; sprawled against the door frame with one hip cocked out. Radek's fingers twitched, wanting to touch. He refrained, but did let his eyes slide from John's hip up across his sweat stained shirt and finally to his face. John's bright eyes shown with amusement back at Radek. John cocked his head and gestured past Radek. "Mind if I come in?"
Radek stepped back and allowed John to come inside. "Did Rodney disable your shower again?"
John laughed. "Nah, I finally got away from Ronon and..." he shrugged, "felt like coming here is all."
Radek knew what that meant. He'd learned a lot about John Sheppard since they'd started this thing of theirs. Fighting, sparring, or exercise in general got the colonel horny. "Huh," Radek tapped his lip and examined John a little closer. The other man twitched a little under Radek's gaze, but held still. "It is the middle of the night," Radek pointed out. "You cannot fall asleep here."
"I know," John said with a shrug. "We don't have to do anything. We can just hang out."
"You hang out with Rodney and Ronon," Radek reminded him, confused, "not with me. You come to me when you want sex. Quite good, slightly kinky sex."
Radek was gratified to see John blush a little. "I know that's the arrangement, but we are friends too."
"Ano, we are," Radek agreed, rubbing his eyes. "However, is 0440 and I have a meeting at 0700 with Rodney and, horror of horrors, a group of botanists. Do you understand what an early meeting with botanists is like with Rodney around?"
"I can imagine," John replied dryly. "Alright, I'll leave you to get your sleep." He moved closer, stepping into Radek's space. Radek blinked up at him and John smiled. "Tomorrow?"
"As long as I can escape the labs, then of course," Radek assured him.
"Good," John leaned in and kissed Radek; just a fast, hot press of lips, and then he was gone. Radek opened his eyes in time to see the door slide shut after the colonel.
The next day, John's team had been called out to rescue Major Ferreh's team from a group of natives bent on breeding with Ferreh's scientist, Dr. Sevoir. "Welcome to the club," Rodney snickered at Damian Sevoir as the man slunk into the labs after his check up.
"Yeh've had th' pleasure then, I take it?" Dr. Sevoir asked. Radek was glad the Australian had been in the city for over a year now. His accent was getting easier for Radek to ignore.
"Rodney has not," Radek chuckled. "He gets passed over for Colonel Sheppard when natives want gene carrier."
Rodney glared at Radek as Dr. Sevoir laughed. "I won't hesitate to give you both latrine duty, you know," Rodney threatened. "Someone's got to clean the lab bathrooms and it certainly isn't going to be me."
Radek rolled his eyes and turned back to his computer. He only had a little more work to finish before he could justify a break. Focusing on his screen, he let Rodney and Damian's bickering sink into the background. Twenty minutes later, Radek smiled, closed down his laptop, and got up.
"Where yeh goin'?" Dr. Sevoir asked.
"I believe it is time for lunch," Radek answered. Damian waved him off and Radek took the opportunity to escape.
oOo
Radek found John in the mess, poking suspiciously at some kind of soup. "What is it?" Radek asked as he set his tray down across the table.
John looked up and smiled. "Hard to say," he answered, stirring the soup again. "Daedalus got delayed on the way here. The cooks are improvising."
"Hm," Radek eyed the soup skeptically. He turned back to his own food, grateful that he'd gone with one of the MREs. "I have chocolate in my quarters," he offered.
"Perfect," John set his spoon down in the soup with an ominous plop. "Let's go."
They made good time back to Radek's quarters. "I do not have much time," Radek told John as the door shut behind them.
"Don't need a lot of time," John answered with a smirk. "Let me suck you off, we'll share the chocolate, and I'll be on my way."
Radek growled. "On your knees," he ordered. John's eyes darkened and he sank down to the floor. "Good," Radek praised. He reached forward and stroked the fingers of one hand through John's hair. John sighed and leaned into the touch like a cat. He made no move to reach for Radek; his hands stayed palm down on his thighs. "I see you like this," Radek reached for the fly of his trousers as he stared down at John. "No one else gets this."
"Yeah," John sighed happily. "I don't do this with anyone else."
Radek had no delusions about what he and John were, but John's words still caused something angry and possessive to coil in his gut. It was one of the things they never talked about; Radek didn't want to know if John fooled around with anyone else in the city. Quickly, he popped the button of his trousers and pulled his cock out through the fly of his boxers.
John stared at it hungrily, watching Radek stroke himself. "Please?" he asked, not taking his gaze away from Radek's dick. "May I suck you?"
"Ano," Radek answered, "you may."
As John leaned in, Radek tightened his fingers in John's hair and hitched his hips forward slightly, letting the head of his cock bump against John's lower lip. Radek felt John shudder as his mouth opened. His tongue touched Radek's foreskin before John took the whole head in his mouth with a soft groan, which Radek echoed.
As John took him deeper, Radek slid his other hand along the side of John's face, feeling how his cheeks hollowed as he sucked. John's mouth was made for this; for Radek to thrust his hips forward, fucking into John. For his part, John simply moaned and relaxed, giving up control to Radek.
"You look so good like this," Radek told him as he moved a little faster. "You submit so beautifully, John." John's eyes opened and he looked up the length of Radek's body at him, but he never tried to pull away. His pupils were blown wide and he sucked a little harder as Radek paused with just the head in John's mouth. "You want this constantly, yes?" Radek asked, savoring the contrast between the cool air and the wet heat of John's mouth. John whimpered softly and his eyes fluttered closed again as Radek pressed back inside deeply. "If you could, you would always be on your knees for me."
On the next thrust, Radek paused for a moment and groaned as he felt John swallow against the head of his cock. He pulled back after a few seconds, though; neither he nor John were interested in choking. He knew John must be uncomfortably hard in his tight BDUs, but John wouldn't touch himself without Radek's permission. "You could come from this, couldn't you?" Radek asked softly.
John's tongue swiped against the vein on the underside of Radek's dick, and he could feel the vibrations as John moaned in answer. He could, but he wouldn't. Not until Radek told him to. Radek felt himself tense, the heat in his spine pooling in his groin as he was pulled closer and closer to the edge. He knew John expected him to come in his mouth, but today Radek had other plans.
Finally, Radek used his grip in John's hair to pull him off. John whined in protest, fighting a little to get back, but then he looked up at Radek's face. "Close your eyes, John," Radek's voice was low as he let go of John's hair and took himself in hand.
"Oh, God, Radek," John groaned. Radek watched his eyes close, even though he knew John wanted to watch.
"So obedient," Radek praised. He was close, so close, and having John on his knees in front of him, eyes closed and waiting for Radek to come on his face... "John," Radek grunted as he came; stripping a line of white across John's upper lip and cheek. John shuddered, a moan escaping his slightly parted lips as Radek jerked again, more come landing on John's face.
When he was done, Radek tucked himself away and watched John lick at his upper lip, collecting what he could reach. "Open your eyes, John," Radek said softly. John looked up at him again, his eyes dark with need. Radek reached out and petted John's hair for a moment, then trailed a finger through the come on John's cheek. "Jerk yourself off," Radek commanded as he slid his finger down and across John's lower lip.
Even as John opened his mouth and sucked Radek's finger, his hands were busy opening his pants and pulling his dick out. He quickly jerked off as Radek slid his finger out of John's mouth to collect more come. "You love this," Radek observed, slowly fucking John's mouth with his finger. "You love showing me how desperate you are."
John moaned around Radek's finger as his hand sped up. "Please," John begged when Radek pulled his finger out again.
"Ano," Radek swiped at the final line of come high on John's cheek bone and pressed two fingers back into John's mouth. "You have earned it. Come."
oOo
Radek both looked forward to Rest Days and dreaded them at the same time. Of course he enjoyed himself; chess club and sleeping in and the mess always at least attempted to do a special something for supper, but sometimes what Radek really needed to relax was to work. Once Elizabeth discovered that many of the scientists still went to the labs on Rest Day, she had ordered Rodney to lock them down. Her intentions were good, of course, but she didn't not truly understand how people like Radek and Rodney felt about science.
Radek always made the most of it, though. This time, he was off to the mainland with Stackhouse, Parrish, Damian Sevoir, Ronon, and Evan Lorne, who always seemed to follow Parrish around like a puppy whenever he got the chance. Ronon was going hunting, while Parrish and Lorne explored a new area far to the east of the land mass. Radek tagged along just to get away from the city for a while.
Nate Stackhouse happily accommodated Damian and Radek's request to help them with some stress tests on the jumper, so for the first hour after they dropped the others off, the scientists took readings while Nate flew the jumper in a vertical climb out of the atmosphere and then took different angles of descent. They moved on to battle maneuvers afterwards until Radek began feeling queasy from watching the ground and sky and starts whip past the window. "Alright, sergeant, I believe that is enough," he told Nate.
"Yeh sure?" Damian grinned at him from over his laptop. "Yeh look a little pale there, Doc. Don' want yeh teh chuck in 'ere."
At Damian's words, Nate turned back to look at them. "Yeah, no throwing up in my jumper. I'll land us and you can go walk around."
Once they were on the ground, Radek opened the hatch and sat on the edge, one leg up on the ramp and his knee curled against his chest as he leaned back on the hydraulic arm. The fresh air instantly made him feel better. He knew it was just the visual of everything spinning that made his stomach clench up; because of the inertial dampeners, they didn't feel anything when the jumper moved. Radek closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As much as he loved Atlantis, he was happy to get onto solid ground again. The air quality was different; not just salt air, but also dirt and forest.
"'s pretty 'ere," Damian's voice broke into Radek's thoughts. Radek looked up to see Damian standing behind him, leaning against the same hydraulic arm with his shoulder. He was looking out at the forest, one hand stuffed in his pocket.
"Ano," Radek agreed.
The two were silent for a few minutes before they heard something coming toward them through the brush. "Oop, 'ey Stackers," Damian called, turning to look back in the jumper. "Company. Yeh better come an protect us."
Nate emerged from the jumper just as Ronon came out of the underbrush, an animal slung over his shoulders. He grinned when he saw the three of them. "Hunting's good here," he told them as he let the dead animal down at the base of the ramp.
"Looks like pig," Radek observed.
"Should cook that 'ere," Damian suggested, "take it back to th' city an everyone'll want some." Radek watched Nate and Ronon exchange a look before they both headed off to collect firewood.
oOo
"Hey, where have you been all day?"
Radek looked up in surprise as John sat down across from him in the mess. The dinner rush had passed before Nate got them all back to the city, which was just as well since they were all stuffed from Ronon's field cooking. John had a piece of what looked to be cake on a plate in front of him and he shared it with Radek as Radek told him about the trip to the mainland.
It occurred to Radek that compared to the stress and uncertainty of the first year, now no one blinked twice at all the weirdness. It was all just day to day happenings now, as normal as picking up a coffee at Starbucks or watching television on the couch had been while they were on Earth. Even this thing Radek had with John, whatever it really was, was good just as it was. Radek didn't really have any urge to change it usually. Only in select moments during, he wished sometimes that it was more. Luckily, that urge usually passed fairly quickly.
"Hey, you're not stealing my chess victim, are you?" Rodney snapped, coming up behind John and glaring at Radek.
Radek simply laughed and shook his head. "Ne, Rodney, though I believe it is usually John who wins, is it not?"
Rodney sputtered as John smirked at Radek and stood up. "Alright, buddy, let's go so I can kick your ass."
Radek watched them go before he bussed John's tray and headed back to his quarters. He took a quick shower and curled up in his bed with his laptop to prepare for the next day. Not long after he started typing on his computer, he felt his eyes getting heavy. Finally admitting defeat, he turned off his computer and curled around his pillow.
Tomorrow they may be facing another life or death emergency, but for now, the entire city felt relaxed.