Some mild smut after the time skip.

***********

The team was patient with Hongjoong's strong dislike to go anywhere near this creature. Its huge lilac body seemed to blur behind the ice, creating the illusion of movement whenever Hongjoong shifted uncomfortably on his feet. More than before, he felt cold and he wanted to leave this cave already. He wanted to pretend that this wasn't in a few hours of travel's distance from where he was sleeping at night.

Seonghwa stayed close by the human's side despite the apparent curiosity in his eyes. His need to protect and look after his boyfriend was greater than his thirst for knowledge. Hongjoong was thankful for that and stayed pressed against his flank without ever taking his overwhelmed eyes off the suspicious leviathan. Seonghwa's slender fingers rubbing circles into his hip helped him relax.

It took a few minutes of Yeosang updating them on the general gist of their research purposes here. This leviathan was presumed to be frozen for at least a thousand years and only recently found by the team. Alterra showed great interest in it and had allowed them to partly open up the ice to access it which explained the scaffold that seemed to lead right into the wall. Hongjoong knew rationally that the masses of ice would not break because they made a little hole in it, but his panicked mind still offered no peace with the anxiety of that happening.

After their break Jongho offered to show Hongjoong their current working place at the creature's massive head. The human was positively skipping on the need to get that close to the many teeth of the creature, but when Seonghwa had looked at him worriedly again, he had reluctantly agreed. This was their work now, after all, he should get used to it right away.

Thus, they followed Jongho and Yeosang up the stairs while Wooyoung and San stayed down to check on some plans. They were all over each other with their affectionate nuzzling and leaning against each other as if stuck together with glue.

Even in the face of a huge monster like this, their infatuation with each other did not cease. Hongjoong wanted to gag at the cuteness of it.

"Tell me something about our new friend." With a roll of his eyes, Hongjoong turned back to Seonghwa who looked regal as he climbed the stairs. As usual, his posture was impeccable.

Seonghwa scrutinised the creature they were passing far too closely for a second. His eyes slid over the green spots and bulging veins that showed under its skin, clearly traces of the virus they were fighting. Hongjoong wondered how long it had been eating away at the corpse already. Would they even be able to find its original DNA by now?

"The Leviathan specimen's species and age is currently unknown, but to be infected with our beloved virus, this individual must have been alive any time between 1000 years ago and now. With its highly muscular limbs, this creature was capable to move on land, making it similar to amphibians. Due to the creature's considerable bulk, however, it is unlikely that it would have hunted on land, possibly only coming ashore to rest."

Seonghwa nodded at the frozen claws in the ice. They were floating, just like the whole creature was, nothing holding it upright. It must have frozen in what was water once. Hongjoong wondered how it could even move on land with that size.

"There is little webbing between the digits, meaning that propulsion using the limbs would have been inefficient. Instead, the long and flattened tail would have been used to propel the creature in water. It is likely that a crocodilian-like method of movement would have been adopted; keeping the limbs to the sides of the body with lateral flexion of the tail propelling the animal forwards."

Hongjoong nodded along, their steps on metal stairs echoing creepily in the large room. It seemed too quiet and empty. However, as he glanced down to check on Wooyoung and San, they were still fine. San was currently kissing along Wooyoung's jaw as if there wasn't a giant monster staring down at them from dead black eyes.

"The long thin teeth resemble those of large piscivorous animals, so the creature's diet was likely composed of much smaller creatures than itself, as these thin teeth are poorly-suited for grasping large prey. It is possible that the two bony plates found either side of the mouth could be moved by the creature and used to corral groups of fish into the mouth. An alternative usage for these plates could have been breaking sea ice to come to the surface."

Seonghwa pointed at the large sickle-shaped bony plates which projected straight forwards from the head. They were greyish just like the bone plates on its back that travelled down the spine up until the tail, as far as Hongjoong could see.

"The ice method seems valid."

The android nodded, then finished his talk.

"The plates along the spine and forearms of the animal suggest a need for defence, likely in disputes between potentially territorial individuals."

Hongjoong grimaced at that bit of disturbing information. He didn't want to meet whatever would attack this specimen.

"Our task is to cure its ailments and find as much information as possible. So far, we haven't found anything similar around these areas, but we also haven't explored everything yet. We can split up, though. You're not really comfortable here, so we can keep your presence here at a minimum and send you explore instead. That might ease things. You can team up with Yunho and Mingi, then, and search the water instead?"

Hongjoong mulled it over in his head. Here, he would at least not be attacked by anything, but he found this creature immensely more scary than the waters. He was good with living organisms that he could actually research rather than such horrible creatures that made him uncomfortable just by loking at them.

"I'm super suspicious of the ocean on this planet, but given the circumstances I might prefer working there, yeah. I'll warn you, though, that opinion might change after the next leviathan attack." Hongjoong gave Jongho his best grin just as he turned the corner and entered the corridor carved into the ice. The blueish element surrounded them in what would have been a nice experience if not for the huge monster left of them.

"That's fine. We are flexible."

Jongho rounded another pillar, Hongjoong following right behind while he rubbed his hands nervously. Then, they found themselves face to face with the exposed leviathan head.

Hongjoong's heart leaped in his chest in fear.

It was exposed only partly. One of the horns and part of its face laid bare. There was also part of its huge mouth and rows of teeth to see that stuck out of its jaw like wilted gravestones. One dead eye was also carefully carved out of the ice, and there was some sort of tank connected to its skin, probably feeding into it to get data on the bacterium.

Hongjoong let go of a breath he didn't notice himself holding. The creature didn't blink, didn't move, just stayed dead where it was.

"Tada," Yeosang said quietly, bringing his hands up to gesture at the head as if there was a way to overlook it. Hongjoong gave a weak smile, his stomach still queasy.

"Man, I miss our animals. Aren't they so cute and tiny?"

"They are. So what we are doing here, we pump our antidote in the body and see how the virus reacts. Once it's clear, we might dig further through the ice to try and measure it completely. We are also working on extracting its DNA and comparing it to other lifeforms here."

Hongjoong felt at ease leaving Jongho and Yeosang to it. They were experts, after all, and his help would be needed in the other biomes anyway.

"Cool. I would be happy to help you with your findings, but I'd embrace never coming back in here."

Jongho patted the bone plate next to him casually. His grin squished up his face and looked entirely too innocent in a place like this.

"Alright. Now that you've seen it, let us show you around the rest of the Excavation Site in the upper level. There's more vehicle plans there."

His eyes were shiny again, so Hongjoong agreed easily. He would be able to breathe normally again as soon as he wouldn't have to be near this beast again.

-

Hongjoong flopped down on his bed back in the outpost with a resounding groan. It was late already and their day had been long, giving him no break at all. He had skipped dinner in order to get some rest and try to relax his tense muscles. His whole body was hurting all over from the sheer tension he had been in because of the Leviathan. By now, he barely noticed his legs and hands cramping from time to time.

Seonghwa cooed at Hongjoong. He had stopped sulking finally after he had come home to Salty that he just finished feeding. He dimmed the lights before walking over to Hongjoong's lax form. As he comfortably knelt down on the ground between his legs to take off Hongjoong's wet boots, he smoothed his hands down his side. Hongjoong arched into the touch, sighing contently at the gentleness of it. Chuckling, Seonghwa set his boots aside before his hands settled over the zipper of Hongjoong's suit.

"May I?"

"Go ahead."

Seonghwa peeled the suit off his upper body like the wrapper of a present. His hands slid over exposed skin and further down until he had access to Hongjoong's middle and immediately started gently massaging and kissing along his soon hardening length. His warm lips felt heavenly on Hongjoong's flesh and seemed to take all tension right from him. Instead, heat curled sweetly in his belly, making him sleepily reach for Seonghwa's hair.

When Hongjoong was hard enough, Seonghwa sunk down on him while his hands worked on getting Hongjoong's clothes fully off. His lips looked gorgeous around Hongjoong's shaft and his long lashes fluttered shut as he concentrated on the feeling. Hongjoong gently brushed his hair back, little sounds tumbling out of his mouth as he dropped his staining head back onto the mattress.

Seonghwa's mouth was not as hot around him as a human's would be, but the thought of it being Seonghwa doing this always made up for that. The android was quiet and determined in his movements, his tongue moving deliberately.

He was in no hurry today. He took his time with his head resting against Hongjoong's thigh most of the time as he patiently sucked him off. Hongjoong nearly fell asleep to the pleasant feeling, his fingers carding idly through the man's hair. Seonghwa's second hand that was not holding onto his base was caressing Hongjoong's body, running down his sides, stomach, and thighs with soft touches.

After a while, Hongjoong felt positively molten to the bed. His body was nothing more than a warm puddle and he was barely aware of anything going on anymore as he was quietly humming into one of his arms. Minutes passed with them sharing the quietness of the room that was only interrupted by the slick noises coming from the edge of the bed.

The buildup ended as sweet as it had started. Seonghwa picked his head up to completely engulf Hongjoong's hardness with his mouth, no gag flex there to be triggered. Hongjoong whined as Seonghwa let him thrust down his throat once, twice, before spilling with a breathy moan, his back arching.

Seonghwa held him, his fingers pressing into Hongjoong's skin with gentle force. Hongjoong felt his eyelids flutter as the heat released and spread in his body to settle in his limbs soothingly.

Warm and tired, Hongjoong dropped his hand from Seonghwa's head and onto the sheets.

Seonghwa let go of him to stand up and get a towel to clean him with. Hongjoong was already half asleep by the time he came back, stumbling between the realm of dreams and consciousness when he felt the gentle touches to his skin.

"Go to sleep. I'll finish up here."

Hongjoong mumbled sleepily, trying to converse around his tongue not cooperating.

In the end, he just rolled around and curled up to sleep. He felt Seonghwa pull the blanket over his body and it settled over him nearly weightless. Satisfied, Hongjoong went to sleep without wasting another thought on the Frozen Leviathan.