Work Text:
Insulating Arms
by PEJA
Burning. Steel was burning deep within from the sub-zero cold temperature he'd brought his body core down to to defeat the creatures who had stolen the children's parents. Even now, hours later, he felt like he would never be touched by life-sustaining warmth again.
Oh, he know in his mind that his body would regain its heat, but the cold. The cold seemed like it had taken a life of its own. Like it had somehow stolen Steel's life.
That imagined thought left him primitively afraid. Afraid he would cease to exiist, that he would shatter if he so much as took a normal breath. So he stood still. Virtually unmoving. Staring at the warm summer scene just outside his window. He mourned the warmth down to his very soul. Craved some small spark beyond life itself. But the desired warmth remained just outside his reach.
Closing his eyes, he tried not to think of how he was suffering. Tried not to feel the ice that crystallized inside him.
Until arms wrapped around him from behind brought him back to his surroundings quickly.
"Lead," he sighed as those strong dark arms clasped him gently against a massive and ever so warm chest. He was safe in the arms of the giant of a man who proclaimed himself Steel's insulation from the cold.
"Miss me?" Lead chuckled in his ear, sending a shiver of heated pleasure through Steel.
Steel turned in the warm embrace, his body absorbing the heat his lover so generously offered. "I thought you'd never get here."
Lead bent to nuzzle Steel's neck a bit before saying, "Sapphire was waxing on about missed chances. I think she's wanting kids. That Rob boy entertained her, but the girl child....she got Sapphire's maternal side ticking away."
Steel shrugged. "Long as she doesn't start looking at me...or you...as good father material, whatever makes her happy."
Lead leaned back a bit, holding Steel just far enough to cast an appreciative glance over him. "No, not father material you my man." A mischievous grin flashed over his face. "But did I mention that I've been thinking about how fine you'd look with a rounding belly alot lately? And the girl child did have a way of bringing on thoughts of love and children."
Steel's lips curled downwards. "Can't you just see me with babe in arms?"
"Yeah," Lead said, leaning down to claim Steel's lips. "Yeah, I can."