ficlet: Trading Places

[deinonychus_1]

Happy birthday mysteriousaliwz . Hope you're having a great day.

Title: Trading Places
Author: Athene
Fandom: Primeval
Pairing/characters: Ryan/Connor
Rating: PG
Warnings: fluff 
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Not mine. ITV and Impossible Pictures own them.
Word count: approx 700
Summary: Karma sucks.
AN: Birthday fic for mysteriousaliwz.
AN2: This fics kind of follows on from Slippery When Wet and Room For Two.

 

            “Honestly, Connor, you need to be more careful.”

            “Don’t you think you’re overreacting a bit?” Connor countered as they walked back across the field towards the cars. “I’m barely even bruised.”

            “That’s not the point,” Ryan glared at him, pointedly taking in the scratches and slightly torn knees in Connor’s trousers. “You’re a grown man; I shouldn’t have to watch out for you all the bloody time. Why can’t you just pay attention to what you’re doing instead of blundering in half-cocked all the ti- Aaaarh!”

            There was suddenly no ground under Ryan’s foot and he flailed for a second before plunging into the ditch. His instinct reactions kicked in fast enough to avoid landing face-first, but a moment later he found himself sitting in at least a foot of very cold, very muddy water in the bottom of the ditch.

            Connor peered down at him from the field above.

            “You okay?”

            Ryan just glared. Somehow he was certain this was Connor’s fault.

            Connor’s expression was slowly twitching into a smirk, bordering on a grin.

            “What was that you were saying about watching where you were going?”

            Ryan continued to glare, but after a moment he had to admit there was a funny side to the situation. He started to pick himself up, and reached up to where Connor was.

            “You could at least give me a hand.”

            Connor held a hand out, and then abruptly snatched it away and took a step backwards.

            “You were just going to pull me in as well, weren’t you? So if we’re both wet and muddy you don’t look as silly when we get back to the cars. That’s evil, Ryan.”

            “Would I do something like that?” Ryan tried, hoping he looked suitably innocent and affronted by the suggestion. Of course, he had been planning exactly that, but what Connor didn’t know couldn’t be used against him later.

            This time Connor was the one glaring.

            “Fine,” Ryan sighed theatrically, and hauled himself out of the ditch, scrambling slightly on the slippery slope as Connor backed further out of the way.

            They started walking back to the cars again, this time staying well away from the edge of the field.

            “So,” Connor commented after a while. “I guess we’d better get those newspapers spread out on the back seat again.”

            “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

            This time Connor gave him in entirely unconcealed grin.

“Oh yes.”

Ryan chose that moment to cup Connor’s face in his hands and kiss him, not-so-accidentally leaving muddy smears across both cheeks, and then dabbing a smear on the end of Connor’s nose for good measure when he let go.

Connor pouted.

“Right. Well. Someone clearly doesn’t want to be taken home and given a nice hot shower and lots of snuggling and pampering.”

Ryan aimed for a contrite expression, but amusement was still vying for dominance.

“Sorry, Connor.”

“Nope, that’s it now. How often do I ever get the chance to be the one looking after you? But nooooo, you had to go and spoil it.”

Ryan felt a strange twist of disappointment. Much as he normally tended to play the big tough soldier card whenever he was hurt or tired, the thought of being pampered and ‘looked after’ by Connor was unexpectedly appealing.

He attempted an approximation of Connor’s trademark puppy eyes look.

“Just think how sorry you’ll be if I come down with something due to insufficient warmth and cuddles after this.”

“Now you’re definitely not playing fair,” Connor said.

Ryan laughed. “Special Forces soldier, remember? Of course I don’t play fair.”

Connor glanced at him and wiped at his muddy nose with his sleeve.

“I suppose there could be a little bit of snuggling,” he allowed, although his pouty expression was starting to crack and show hints of the smile that clearly wanted to break out.

Ryan grinned.

“Look at it this way,” Ryan offered. “You’ve got an excuse to join me in the shower as well now.”

Connor just raised his eyebrows at Ryan.

“No, Ryan. This means I get the shower first.”

 



Comments

[deinonychus-1.livejournal.com]

I'm sure Ryan will enjoy being 'looked after' by Connor, it makes a nice change to it being the other way round, after all. The question is, how long can Connor resist Ryan's puppy eyes?

[fififolle]

Oh... not long *g*
*goes to happy place*