A Very Shy Snail

(Yes, this is more crack fic. Also more Martin/Henry. A gift for my flatmate who has an interview today.)

The Dreams in Which We’re Rabbits Are the Best I’ve Ever Had

It was when he woke one night, terrified and breathless from a nightmare of teeth and claws, that he first noticed Martin’s unusual habit. Having been in a relationship for five months and sharing a bed for three, Henry couldn’t have failed to notice that his boyfriend was quite the cuddler, but this was different. Snuffling against his ear and occasionally tugging at it, it was almost as if Martin was trying to groom him.

Over the next few weeks the incidents became more frequent and Henry found that he was occasionally woken not by his dreams but instead by his bedfellow’s unconscious attempts to flatten tufts of hair. He couldn’t help but wonder what he was dreaming about that made him so… aggressively affectionate.

He knew he should probably mention it, but it didn’t seem like a topic one could broach over breakfast: “darling, what precisely is it that occurs in your dreams to make you suddenly desire to lick my hair? Could you pass me the butter dish, please?” He had heard people refer to their partners as being ‘animals’ in bed, but he doubted they meant the woodland variety.

As so often is the case, the facts of the matter came out unexpectedly and without conscious prompting on Henry’s part. They had been taking Martin’s niece out for the day and had popped into a pet shop when Henry noticed his partner pause at the rabbit pen and stare down as if lost in thought. Martin caught his questioning look and mused, “do you ever wonder what it would be like to be one of them?”

In truth, no, he hadn’t, though it would appear he had at least had a crash course in leporine grooming rituals. In Martin’s dreams, they were both rabbits. No one judged them, and they were free from everything except, of course, the constant threat of being eaten- though given that Henry felt that anyway whenever he saw anything vaguely canine, it didn’t seem like a bad life, all in all. Not bad at all.