Creature Comfort (Zach x Chris)

Part 1: After Dark

The savanna was much more peaceful during the nighttime. Besides a few hyena howls, the darkness was silent and still.

That is, until a low mechanical hum started to draw nearer to the tree under which Chris Kratt lay, gazing up at the stars, only half-asleep. Chris, having snuck away from his companions in the Tortuga HQ, knew this hum very well. 

He snapped out of his daze, scanning the landscape with his still-adjusting eyes, until he spotted what he was looking for in the distance: two glowing red dots, steadily approaching. Chris smiled while checking the time. 'Always punctual,' he thought to himself, 'as usual'. Not that he was complaining, however. 

The source of the red lights came into clearer focus, revealing themselves to be the eyes of a lone Zachbot. A shadowy figure could just barely be seen perched atop the robotic minion, waving excitedly to Chris from across the savanna. Not daring to yell and blow their cover, Chris held his tongue until the robot and himself were just a few feet apart. 

"I almost fell asleep. You're gonna have to use your evil tactics keep me on my toes, Zach, or I might just lose interest."

Zach chuckled and hopped smoothly off of his metal steed, into the dim red glow. "Sure," he teased, "like that would ever happen. You're just too obsessed with me, Kratt". 

And he was right. Chris found himself barely able to stop from gasping when Zach came into full view, his thin frame covered by a (distractingly) tight turtleneck. His jet-black hair was swooped lopsidedly over his even blacker eyes. Every time Chris started at them, he felt as if he were being pulled down into a black hole. Despite his sinister appearance, Zach was undeniably attractive, and he knew it. Chris worriedly fixed his hair, hoping his bed-head wasn't terribly noticeable. 

Zach smirked at Chris, almost hungrily, before pulling him into a tight embrace. "I've missed you, Chris," he said, while holding on to the back of Chris's neck. 

"But you just saw me earlier today! We had a whole giraffe-powers-versus-evil-robot battle just this afternoon!"

"You know what I mean," Zach stated quietly. "Us when we're 'enemies' doesn't count." Chris pulled him even tighter before responding, "Even then, we did this same thing yesterday night. And the night before. And the one before that." 

Zach looked up at the Kratt brother, who had a good few inches on him (height-wise, of course), at the boy who he had shared so many experiences with, both good and bad. "Sure, but that's still too much time apart." 

Chris let go a little bit at this remark. "I'm sorry Zach, but you know we have to keep this a secret. I can't lose the trust of my brother and my team, and yo-". Zach put a finger to Chris's lips to shut him up. "I know, I can't risk the trust of the other animal poachers and threaten my business, blah blah blah. Sometimes I think that what we have here, right now, might be worth more than even my riches, even more than my supervillain status. Don't you?"

Not responding quite yet, Chris pulled Zach into the hammock he had hung up between the two trees that served as their meeting place. The unlikely pair settled in comfortably, as they had so many times before. Chris sighed deeply. "I do. But I love my friends, too. I can't imagine how'd they'd react if they knew the guy we fight every other week for the sake of the animals is the same guy I make out with afterwards. Not even my brother knows I'm..." He trailed off.

"Into millionaire goths?"

"Oh, shut up." 

The two interrupted their conversation once again with a kiss. 

"You know what," said Zach, "let's bring this up later. I want to take us further, but I get that right now isn't the time. I didn't wait all day just to get sad and argue."

Chris agreed wordlessly, sinking further into the shape of the boy he loved, but couldn't tell anyone about.

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*CREEEEEAAAAAAAAAAK*

The sudden noise of a door opening broke the calm of the night, jolting Chris awake. Zach stirred, but almost immediately started snoring again. Chris groggily looked around for the source of the noise, before realising that the door the Tortuga HQ, just 100 feet away from the hammock, was ajar, illuminating a figure who was quickly making his way towards their hiding spot. 

'Oh shit', thought Chris. 

'It's Martin'.

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To be continued....... ;)