deinonychus_1 | fanfic: The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Title: The Second Law of Thermodynamics
Author: Athene
Fandom: Primeval
Pairing/characters: Lester/Connor
Rating: PG
Warnings: none
Spoilers: 3.5
Disclaimer: Not mine. ITV and Impossible Pictures own them.
Word count: approx 500
Summary: Everyone seemed to have forgotten about Connor. Everyone, except Lester.
AN: Reposted from the Sunday chat in Denial. Just a bit of comment-fluff.

Everyone was so busy running around sealing off the lab and ensuring that no spores had escaped, they all seemed to have forgotten about Connor. Just a foil blanket and a bit of corridor floor and he was supposed to be alright after damn near freezing to death in order to protect the ARC from the spores.

Lester glanced round to make sure everyone was occupied, and then strode over to where Connor was still a frosty, shivering huddle.

“Come on,” Lester said, without preamble. He grabbed Connor’s arm and dragged him to his feet and half carried him into the nearest office. It was probably a sign of how frozen Connor was that he didn’t even make a sound, let alone protest at this treatment.

Lester shut the door behind them, and then pressed Connor against the wall. The boy could barely stand up, but there was confusion in his dark eyes. Confusion, and something else. Hope? Fear? Lester didn’t know, and didn’t want to find out. Instead, before he could think too hard about this and change his mind, he pulled the foil blanket aside and slipped his arms around Connor’s body and pressed close against him.

God, he was bloody cold! Lester gave an involuntary gasp as the cold penetrated his clothes and sucked away his own heat. He started to rub his hands up and down Connor’s back. The boy didn’t seem to have moved a muscle since the moment that Lester had touched him. Suddenly that changed when he burrowed his face against Lester’s neck, pressing his nose into the warm skin there.

Lester bit back another gasp, and continued to hold the young man, letting one hand slide up and settle on the back of Connor’s neck, letting the laws of thermodynamics do their work as his own heat seeped into Connor’s body. Connor’s hands wormed their way inside Lester’s jacket, and Lester was supremely grateful that his shirt was very well tucked in, and that Connor’s fingers were still apparently too cold to be able to remedy that situation.

Gradually the shivering subsided, and Lester could see pink skin instead of bluish-white. He eventually let go, trying to ignore the fraction of a second when Connor clung on, burrowing his face closer into Lester’s neck, before he too let go.

Then there was a very awkward moment when neither of them seemed able to meet each other’s eye.

“Right, well. I believe we have a mutant mushroom infestation to deal with,” Lester said in his best I’m-an-aloof-manager-and-I-don’t-care-about-my-staff voice. He walked to the door, and his hand was already on the handle before he heard Connor speak.

“Why?”

He glanced back and allowed himself to meet the confused gaze.

Lester shrugged and feigned nonchalance. “It would take far too long to train someone else how to use that blasted detection device of yours.”

He walked out before he gave anything else away, but the image of Connor’s raised eyebrows and understanding smile stayed with him all the way back down the corridor.