Bucky’s jizz, making breakfast, collecting spacesuits, visiting the ship
Part 1
Bucky was in bed, lying next to a sleeping Daniil. It was just after midnight. He could hear JJ and Muzz prowling about outside, on one of their patrols - checking the perimeter and whatnot. He could hear Zemo and Sebastián snoring softly down the hall, feel their strong regular heartbeats in sync with each other.
Daniil was lying on his back, limbs thrown wide, taking up so much room that Bucky was consigned to the very edge of the bed. He didn’t mind. He turned onto his side, careful not to wake Dani yet.
Bucky was in that languid, boneless, liminal state just before complete wakefulness, and his mind was drifting. He opened his eyes to look upon the familiar/unfamiliar profile next to him. He still got a buzz from seeing Daniil so vulnerable like this - so trusting and open. The diffuse moonlight shining through the open shutters was softening his features, making his skin seem to shine with an internal gleam. He let his gaze roam over Daniil’s face, taking in the long dark lashes, the shape of his nose, the curve of his throat, his collarbone. He aimlessly brushed his fingertips over Dani’s hair, moving a few wayward strands back into place.
‘Maybe I won’t need to find any serum for Hel or Dani,’ he thought to himself.
‘Cos, if my kids would be SuperSoldiers, that means it’s in my jizz.’ He smiled a wicked smile.
‘I wonder how much cum you’d have to swallow before it gets into your system.’
He lay back, staring at the ceiling. ‘Maybe they’ve got it already…’
*
Part 2
Jamie, Muzzy and Sebby had left their respective nighttime playmates dozing and met up in the downstairs kitchens to prepare a luscious repast for them. Chatting amiably, and cooking up a lovely breakfast, they wandered around the kitchen in a coordinated ballet: poaching eggs; pan-frying plump chicken livers and juicy quails’ hearts; grilling homegrown tomatoes and large flat open-faced mushrooms; preparing grapefruit; squeezing orange juice (using ripe fruit hand picked just now from the orangery, of course); making pots of tea and carafes of coffee; adding toast and butter, with little pots of jam and honey on the side.
At one point, Jamie slipped into the garden to pick some wildflowers and was distracted by the morning sunlight filtering through the trees. There was a light haze on the meadow and the sound of birdsong trilled through the crisp air. It had rained in the night, and everything was festooned with sparkling droplets, casting out shimmers and prismatic rainbows. Jamie took in deep lungfuls of air. The petrichor lifted his heart and he couldn’t help grinning to himself. He stretched lazily, happily, and began to search about for the perfect blossoms with which to adorn the breakfast trays.
He spied a small bunch of golden flowers on long frondy stems. He hadn’t seen this particular type before. The petals were soft and velvety, a deep old-gold in colour, like the picture frames in the music room. In certain lights, especially in the mornings, Mo’s eyes took on that exact shade of topaz. The ultraviolet markings on the petals reminded him of the muscle striations in Mo’s irises. Jamie suppressed a tiny squeal of delight and gently reached out to pluck three of the most perfect blooms. One was especially gorgeous. That one was for Mo’s tray. He wondered if he could sneak it past Muzzy.
At that moment, Sebastián called him back in.
Once in the kitchen, Jamie put a single long-stemmed flower in a separate little vase on each breakfast tray. He brushed the petals of his flower lightly - fluffing it. Muzz looked over at him. Looked at the flower. Looked back at him, and a slow conspiratorial smile quirked his mouth. Jamie grinned and gave a cheeky shrug.
Once each tray was arranged to Muzzy’s meticulous standards, the 3 of them sauntered out into the atrium together, chatting quietly.
“I can hear Bucky’s stomach rumbling from here,” said Sebastián, grinning over at Muzzy.
“He could smell us cooking,” said Jamie, balancing his tray on the fingertips of one hand so that he could lift the cloche slightly and sniff the food appreciatively. “Do you think we’ve made enough?” he asked, plopping the cover back down before too much heat could escape.
“Of course,” said Muzz. “And they can always go back for more, if need be.”
“I’m planning on distracting Dani so much that he won’t feel like going back for more,” smirked Seb. “Breakfast, that is.”
“I’m planning on eating my breakfast from James’ stomach,” grinned Muzzy lasciviously, “among other places.”
“Nice,” said Seb. “D’you think I could get Dani to eat off my abs?”
“I don’t see how you could stop him,” grinned Muzzy.
Jamie laughed along silently, showing his sharp white teeth. He was thinking about what he was going to do to Zemo just before giving him breakfast. Zemo did not like to eat breakfast in bed, and sometimes wasn’t hungry immediately upon waking. So Jamie was going to put the tray on the little side table next to the bed and then help Zemo work up an appetite.
By this time, they had reached the bottom of the stairwell, but they didn’t bother using the actual stairs.
Muzzy leaped athletically from the atrium straight upwards, up 2 flights, to land nimbly on the bannister, carrying brekkie for him and Bucky. He didn’t spill a drop.
Jamie jumped effortlessly up the other side, balance-beam walking lithely along the bannister to Zemo’s room, carrying their breakfast. He dropped agilely to the floor outside Zemo’s door, his tray of goodies undisturbed as he landed soundlessly on the carpet.
Seb followed them, springing up over the balcony and onto the carpet, almost like he was defying gravity. He took his breakfast tray over to Daniil’s door.
Much munching ensued - of food, and other things…
*
Once they had finished their extended breakfast, they had a really productive day.
Zemo taught Jamie and Muzzy the art of space walking in the new VR room adjacent to the ship control simulator suite, and Daniil showed Bucky and Sebastián the intricacies of manually piloting their little planet hopper if, for some insane reason, Ione was offline. Daniil had actually found this to be a great exercise for himself too. You know what they say: the best way to see if you know something, is to teach someone else.
*
After a late supper in the arboretum, they were still sitting around the glass-topped table, picking at the remains of the food, and discussing what to spend the evening doing. There was a lovely vase in the centre of the table containing a single branch of cherry blossom artfully arranged ikebana style. Zemo had added the 3 golden flowers from the breakfast trays, and Jamie’s heart gave a little flip every time he glanced at it. He loved him so much. He started composing a poem in his head for him about his thoughts on the golden flower.
Zemo’s phone rang. He stepped away with a polite excuse and wandered off through the dwarf willow and climbing sweetpeas into one of the covered mazes, his voice low and husky.
Daniil looked around the table in exasperation.
“Please,” he said flatly. “I know that everyone can hear that entire conversation - both sides.”
Bucky grinned over at Seb. Jamie dropped his head and looked sideways at Muzz.
“Yep,” said Bucky, while Seb and Muzz nodded.
Jamie’s ears twitched and his face broke out into a huge grin. He reached a hand across the table towards Daniil and stage-whispered “Our spacesuits are ready for their final fitting and testing. We can go and get them tomorrow.”
*
They got to the Neutral Buoyancy Labs by 11 the next morning. The Cats could hardly sleep with the anticipation and were up before everyone else, making breakfast and chivvying everyone along. Quite the contrast from when Zemo was leaving the lodge not so long ago.
The spacesuits were superb - made from the newest high-tech fabrics and miniaturisation technology. They were a creamy white, form fitting and compact, with accents of bright colour. The helmets, with their secondary gold visor, exposed their full faces, and contained all the ventilation and communication equipment. Jamie and Muzz much preferred anything that meant they didn’t have to stick things in their ears, but were very disappointed at the lack of a food tube. The portable life support system on the back also contained manoeuvring jets, and was surprisingly slim: no bigger than a medium sized backpack. The hard upper torso housed the display control module on the chest. The accents of colour on each suit were different for each individual: Zemo - gold; Bucky - blue; Jamie - purple; Muzzy - green; Daniil - red; Sebastián - black.
The technicians helped them on with their suits and heated gloves, surprised to find that they were fully able to get in and adjust them themselves.
“You’ve been practicing, Baron,” smiled lead technician Mallory approvingly.
“Naturally,” smirked Zemo. “Everyone is fully conversant with the apparatus. We are just keen to test their manoeuvrability in the pool.”
“Of course,” replied Mallory, leading them out into the pool area.
“Here we are,” she said, walking around the side of the pool to give them room to access the crane platform that would take them underwater.
The pool was 50 feet deep with a diameter of over 300 feet, making it the largest indoor pool in the world, primarily used for simulating the zero-gravity conditions in space and testing the fit and functionality of space suits.
Jamie and Muzz couldn’t help splashing around before concentrating on the tasks at hand. Zemo and Bucky tried not to smile. Daniil and Sebastián tried not to join in!
The deep pool was used to test the various aspects of their spacesuits, such as their mobility and ease of wear. It got them used to the internal sounds of the fans and cooling systems, the weight and resistance of the suit, as well as practicing the dexterity of the gloves by using tools and equipment. It all went swimmingly. Those hours in the VR suite at home had really paid off, and everyone took to using the suits like a duck to water.
When they finally came up to the surface on the platform, the technicians hardly needed to help them out of the pool. Mallory took them back to the dressing area so they could get out of their suits.
“Thank you,” said Zemo, flipping up his face plate. “That was most efficacious. I needed the reminder.”
He turned to look at everyone else as they walked ahead of him and Mallory. Everyone seemed at ease in their suits, both here on land, and under the water. It seemed a shame to get dressed again. Muzzy and Jamie were out in front, strolling along with their face plates still closed, and he felt a sense of delight and pride at their adjustments to the helmets and easy familiarity with the suits.
The technician stopped at the doorway to the dressing area. Zemo turned to her expectantly and she smiled. “You don’t really need my help, do you?”
“No, but thank you.” He smiled his charming smile. “It would be expedient for us to practise undressing ourselves.”
“Of course,” she replied. “Just leave the suits here when you’re finished. Go on through and have something to eat. We’ll dry the suits off, reset them for you and have them ready for collection at 4.”
“That is most kind,” said Zemo, warmly. “I had not expected to pick them up today.”
“You exceeded our expectations in the testing zone,” Mallory said, trying not to stare at Bucky and Sebastián as they stripped down to their fabric undergarments, the ones housing the integral cooling systems. “I think you were the fastest we’ve ever had.”
“And, hopefully, the most successful,” said Zemo, stepping further into the room, with an air of finishing the conversation.
“Of course,” she said, picking up the hint. She took a step backwards, then added “We’ll send on the modular components to the ship for you.”
“Thank you again,” said Zemo, closing the door and turning to face his half undressed squad.
“Success,” he said. “Leave your suits, get dressed and we’ll get some food. We have until 4 to pick them up again.”
“We heard,” said Bucky, making the others giggle, even though he was trying his best to be sarcastic.
The Cats could hardly eat for excitement. Well, when I say ‘hardly’, they did polish off a three course meal in the VIP suite, with extra dessert, and took a box of chicken nuggets and chips ‘to go’.
*
“While we now have our suits, why don’t we take them over to the the planet hopper? We can have a look round and meet Ione in situ,” said Zemo as they each carried a compact metal case containing their individual suits down to the car.
They stacked the colour coded cases in the capacious boot, and Zemo drove them out to his private space port.
It was a beautiful afternoon. The wispy white clouds were painting hieroglyphs on a lapis lazuli sky.
“We’ll be up there soon,” whispered Jamie to Muzz, bright eyed. “High above the clouds.”
“Higher,” murmured Muzzy, nudging him excitedly. “We’ll be looking down on the clouds, looking down on the earth.”
Bucky snorted. Zemo smiled his trademark smile.
Jamie slipped his arm through Muzzy’s and leant his head on his shoulder, looking up at the clouds dreamily. He resisted the urge to ask ‘are we there yet?’
*
To no one’s surprise, the ‘little planet hopper’ turned out to be a luxury 4 story space cruiser. More like a 5 star hotel for space. It was huge and opulent and state of the art; with FTL drives, an observation deck, a swimming pool, a large medical facility, a science area and a hydroponics garden, and much much more. As well as the spacious master cabin, 8 luxury double rooms and 2 single rooms; Zemo had added a custom-built suite for 6, with a huge bed and a sunken bath. There were also internal gardens - just for the scenery - lounges, bars, dining rooms, a ballroom, cinema, library, gym, tennis court, holosuite, even a mechanical bull.
You name it, Zemo had thought of it, and upgraded it to a level of decadence that was embarrassing.
There was a gravity free area just for play. Zemo had provided a set of wings for everyone, and paragliding apparatus. Moving through zero G was more akin to swimming than flying, so Zemo also provided skintight scuba gear and flippers. Not because it was needed - just because it was fun. All of which was colour coded to match their spacesuits, of course.
Zemo had put food replicators on each floor, but since he had a soft spot for real food, and he knew how much Muzzy liked to cook, there was also a large galley area and enough foodstuffs in storage to last a crew of 30 for 250 years!
Below decks was storage, freezer space, the echoing cargo hold, the armoury, and the missile bay.
There were 2 shuttlecraft gleaming in the shuttle bay towards the rear of the ship.
*
“Good afternoon, Captain Zemo.” Ione’s voice greeted them as they stepped onto the main bridge. “It’s my pleasure to have you back on board.” Her voice was warm and calm: confident, British, with a hint of cheek. “And welcome aboard Bucky, Jamie, Muzzy, Daniil and Sebastián. It is so nice to have you here, instead of just at the simulator.”
“It is good to be here at last,” answered Zemo affectionately, brushing his hand over the familiar consoles.
“Captain Zemo,” murmured Bucky laughingly. He rolled his eyes, crossed his arms over his chest. The others looked around in awe.
“It’s different being actually here,” said Muzzy, stepping further in.
“It is,” said Sebastián, hot on his heels.
“Take a look around,” said Zemo, magnanimously. He threw his arm out to encompass the whole bridge, moving forward to an area in the middle that contained 6 comfortable chairs facing the main controls and viewport. He sat, crossed one long leg over the other, turned slightly to place his arm cockily over the back of his chair, and added “Go ahead. Explore.”
He watched proudly as everyone wandered around his bridge - so familiar to them from the simulator, yet different now they were here in the flesh.
The bridge was sumptuous, he had to admit, with muted lighting and a sleek design. The walls and floors were lined with gleaming metal panels and glowing screens, and the air was filled with a soft hum of energy.
The massive viewport stretched from floor to ceiling, offering an unobstructed view of the spaceport and surrounding countryside outside.
Daniil and Muzzy peered at screens filled with data and readouts, nodding appreciatively.
Bucky found the ship's navigation system to be particularly impressive, with multiple screens displaying star charts, trajectories, and other navigational data.
“She’s yar,” he said softly, patting the console. Zemo’s lips quirked into his trademark smile.
“What’s her name?” asked Bucky.
“Jamie and Muzz haven’t decided yet. Or have you, boys?” Zemo asked.
Jamie and Muzzy looked at each other and grinned.
“Actually, we have,” said Muzzy.
“Oh, yes?” inquired Zemo.
Everyone stopped for a moment and listened.
Jamie coughed. “We are calling the ship The Pomegranate Frog.”
Muzzy continued “And the shuttlecraft are Polywhirl and Chameleon.”
“How charming,” said Zemo delightedly. “We shall have to arrange a little ceremony.”
Bucky huffed. “OK. The Frog. Polly and Cam. I can work with that.”
“The Frog,” said Jamie. “I like that even better.”
“Let’s take the Frog over to Jupiter,” said Muzzy to Jamie.
Jamie grinned. “Yes, and then I’ll take Polly over to Ganymede, while you take Cam out to Callisto.”
They laughed together, making everyone smile indulgently.
Zemo caught Bucky’s eye. A sultry look passed between them.
Zemo coughed. “Why don’t you all go and explore, while I arrange a little christening celebration for our Pomegranate Frog and shuttlecraft before we zoom off into outer space.” He shrugged. “I’m not really one for superstition, but it feels appropriate somehow.”
He rose fluidly to his feet, and produced a slim case from his inner jacket pocket. He opened it to reveal 6 small thin circular discs.
“Here’s a little comm button for you all,” he said, sticking one of the small silver circles onto the side of everyone’s neck. “You can use it to speak to Ione, or each other while on board.”
“Is there a map?” muttered Bucky.
Ione spoke: “I can project a map for you whenever and wherever you are, Bucky, or send one to your phone.”
“Thanks, Ione,” said Bucky, pulling out his phone. “Much appreciated.”
Zemo smiled and made shooing motions. “Go and explore, kittens. Choose your room, find your feet, have a play. I’ll meet you all in the observatory in… shall we say… a couple of hours? We’ll have a little party, drink a little champagne and christen our ship.”
***