Notes: This is for you, Vrisky8its, and... Well, you know damn well why you're getting this. Consider it a gift from me to you in thanks for what you've achieved. And maybe it's something to prove I can let some stories end happier even in Homestuck.

In Warm Arms

In his defense, Karkat had told them much about this little meteor they had been exiled to shortly after their arrival. He'd gone on at almost tedious length about the multitude of rooms, about the ectobiology equipment and what it had done, and about quite a few other aspects of their new home. For instance, he had pointed out the existence of the totem lathe and other items that made little sense to be there but that he had placed there long before the forced arrival due to the black monstrosity that had stolen their victory from them. That being said he hadn't remembered where those all-important items were nor had he cared to go seeking them out himself.

All of this had been but a portion of what Karkat had remembered and offered them in the dazed state they had all meandered around in immediately after what came to be known as 'the Incident.' He, like all of them, had found himself awash in shock and sorrow bordering on hysteria due to the results of their game. Kanaya had to think, in times like this, in Karkat's defense. The other option was to blame him for all of the details that he'd left out, one of the first and foremost thereof being the fact that the deeper rooms in the meteor's lab that they had divvied up into private domains, were frightfully cold.

No, there was one more thing to be said in Karkat's defense: the further 'down' one's blood color was upon the hemospectum, the hotter their blood ran. Karkat probably never quite noticed the cold, his own body making more than enough heat to compensate.

It was a burden they had taken to solving in their own, often private ways. Aradia, for instance, was a robot and required no heat to properly maintain herself. Tavros, Kanaya suspected, was also too warm of a blood to truly notice the cold that was faced them during each sleep cycle, and he rarely left what they were transforming into a computer lab anyway. The seadweller coping method was all but a mystery to Kanaya, though she suspected that Eridan made good use of his scarf and cape if the cold set in. Gamzee... well, Kanaya was pretty certain as to the answer to that issue. Sopor had always possessed a warming ability to it, and his ingestion of the material suggested an answer there as well.

Chances were it would have been easier on them all with recupracoons. Of that, at least, Kanaya had little doubt. The slime filled vessels had a way of warming a troll and easing them to sleep. Unfortunately they had discovered in the early days of the game that recupaicoons were, for a lack of a better word, difficult for the game to recreate. Whether it was something in their size, composition, or contents, 'coons had been found to require a special device to decipher the captchacodes of, and no one had found a reason to bother with it. No one, not even Gamzee, had thought to bring one with them, and so short of Sollux spending an insane amount of time cracking captchacodes to try to recreate the 'coons to make the sleep of some more comfortable.

Kanaya, as it was, hadn't found the temperatures to be too bad. She'd had materials and time to create blankets to cover the mound of pillows she had recreated for her comfort. They were plush and comfortable and more than warm enough when one used enough. She had even given a crimson one over to Terezi when asked, though the way Terezi sniffed at it made her wonder if it was ever actually used for sleep. She almost even went so far as to offer one to Equius before one sleep cycle until she had heard Nepeta chiding him to sleep and finally found the nerve to ask the small troll if her moirail would need a blanket.

"Why would he need that?" Nepeta asked, tilting her head as she always did when she was doing her active best to be adorable while asking a question.

"Well, does he not become chilled while he..."

"That's what I'm fur!" she chuckled. "I keep him warm while he sleeps. Pounce used to do the same for me when I was cold."

The simple, loving statement was more than enough food for thought, so to speak. As she went about her life between her sleep cycles, Kanaya couldn't help but wonder just how it would feel, to lay there in sleep, held safe in the arms of a troll who cared. How would it feel to embrace another, holding them as close as a caste touch would allow, warming them with her own body? Once, just once, she wished she could feel that sort of closeness with another person.

"Vriskers, you don't have to be so mean," Nepeta growled as Kanaya transportalized into the lab after waking one evening after a particularly chilly sleep cycle.

"In fact I would strongly suggest that you cease and desist from harassing my moirail immediately," Equius seconded, his imposing presence standing directly between Kanaya and where she expected Vriska stood.

"Back off, Horse-pan. Tell your little 'rail not to get in my way first thing in the evening and we won't have any problems."

"Don't you take such a tone with me!" Equius roared, his fists clenching at his sides. "I..."

"She's not worth our attention," Nepeta quickly stepped in, grabbing her moirail by the arm and hauling him away from the conflict that was clearly brewing. It left Kanaya standing there, her eyes meeting Vriska's vicious and cold glare, not quite sure how to face the interaction she had seen. Karkat would have jumped in and commanded them all to behave, but Kanaya was more of... Well, a meddler as Vriska put it. Had it not been for Nepeta she would have fallen back into old habits and that was the last thing she wanted.

"What are you staring at, fussyfangs?" Vriska demanded, eyes narrowing further.

"Nothing, of course," Kanaya said after a moment, pushing past Vriska to move toward her computer terminal, and almost stopping in her tracks as Vriska shoulder-checked her while storming to the transportalizer.

The contact had lasted only the briefest of moments, and yet Kanaya had come to know the source of the problem instantly. Even through the thickness of the sleeves of her shirt, and the rather thin material of Vriska's own, Kanaya had felt it and wanted to reach out. Wanted to pull Vriska into her arms to offer her the only thing she had at the moment. How had she not realized it earlier? Hadn't she been Vriska's 'moirail' when they were younger? Hadn't she known better then? More than once Vriska had admitted how hard it was for her to sleep, sopor or not, when her hive was too cold at night. The cerulean had never reacted well to chills, and there was little the meteor offered beyond that.

As she settled by her computer Kanaya already had determined what to do.

"Just what makes you think you can just waltz into my domain like this uninvited, fussyfangs?" Vriska demanded before sleep cycle that night when Kanaya strode more confidently than she truly felt into the deepest parts of Vriska's domain.

"I brought you a gift," Kanaya responded, refusing to let Vriska's hard tone drive her away. In her arms she held the carefully folded, cerulean blue blanket she had specially made for Vriska from quite a bit of slaving over the captchacode program Sollux had developed to create the ideal item for the snappy midblood. "I find that the meteor is far too cold during sleep cycle for my own comfort, and decided that if such was true for me, it likely was for everyone else. So I made blankets."

"And you only just got around to me?" Vriska snapped, glaring at her from on top of a pile of discarded clothes and pillows that the spider troll had likely picked up during her game play experience. "I saw Terezi curled up in hers wandering around the halls a few nights ago. What, think I'm too good for your little..."

"You don't accept gifts well," Kanaya pointed out, shaking her head. "But if you don't want..."

Even as she turned to stride away there was the sound of footsteps behind her. A hand caught her shoulder, spinning her back around. There wasn't even time to protest before Kanaya had snatched the fabric from her hands and strode away as if nothing had happened.

"Not even a thanks?" Kanaya demanded as Vriska shook the blanket out to its full size and wrapped it around her shoulders.

"Thanks, Kanaya..."

"Sleep well, Vriska."

She left the block without further words.

Not that she stayed gone long. As soon as she heard the telltale quiet cut only by the occasional murmurs, Kanaya stole back into the now darkened block. She found Vriska much like she expected to, curled up on the pile of cloth and pillows and under the new blanket. Kanaya smiled down at the sight before toeing off her slippers. What could it hurt? Just a moment, just to know what it felt like... Vriska would never know, never needed to know if she was as heavy a sleeper as the other 'noblebloods' were. Slowly she lowered herself onto the pile and burrowed under the blanket. Her body pressed against the length of Vriska's, her legs curling up to press directly against those of the other troll, and her arm snaking out to wrap around Vriska's waist.

It was wonderful, then and there, with Vriska in her grip. Their bodies seemed to fit together perfectly, two pieces of a puzzle. Beneath her hand she could feel Vriska's chest rise and fall as her aeration sacs slowly filled with air before emptying themselves. Through her fingertips and her own chest she could feel the beating of Vriska's pusher. It was perfect, feeling like she could hold someone safe in her arms. It even helped that Vriska's body seemed to be moving almost instinctively closer to Kanaya's own heat, seeking it and soaking it up hungrily. All Kanaya could do was sigh at the pleasure of it, and as she did she wanted to kick herself for the sound. Surely it would be more than enough to wake Vriska.

"Stop holding your breath, fussy. It can't be any good for you. Your face will go all green."

Kanaya felt her body stiffen at Vriska's voice, a voice completely calm and fully awake.

"Don't do that," Vriska's voice begged softly in the relative darkness. "Your legs moved and I'm colder..."

"Vriska..."

"Don't ruin this with all kinds of talk, Kanaya. We can always do that part when we wake up."

"When we wake up?"

"Yeah. So don't run away. You're too warm to lose right now."

As silly as it was to do in the darkness when Vriska couldn't possibly turn around and look at her, she hid her face, blush and smile included, in the back of Vriska's shoulder. The troll in her arms half-purred in pleasure, and pressed back against her warm skin all the more.