Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Hey, come here kiddo,” Nick called out to Ellis in the darkness of the room.

Ellis stirred from his side of the bed at the sound of Nick’s voice.  “I’m tired man, what do ya want?” He asked sleepily as he rubbed his eyes.

“I’m cold,” Nick stated flatly.  “Come help warm me up.”

Ellis’ cheeks flushed at the demand.  “B-But, we’re both naked!” He exclaimed as he turned over in the bed, making sure to keep the bed sheet that he had earlier claimed, wrapped around his body.  They had taken refuge in a small safe house in hopes of waiting out the rainstorm that had been pummeling them, and in the interest of letting their clothes dry, opted to sleep in the buff.  Since they were in pitch darkness, Ellis had figured that modesty wouldn’t be an issue.  But he hadn’t counted on this.

“Come on sport,” Nick pleaded.  “That rain soaked you too, so I’m sure you’re just as freezing as I am.”

Ellis gave an involuntary shiver in response to Nick’s words.  He was right.  Being in those soaked clothes for so long had chilled him down to the bone, despite the thick, humid air outside.  He thought about it for a moment before giving in.  “Okay… But we’re jus’ keepin’ warm, right?”

“Right,” Nick said in agreement.  “No funny business, I promise.”

“All right,” Ellis said as he shifted in the double bed to get closer to the gambler.  He felt and fumbled his way into Nick’s open arms, nestling up to the older man.  “This okay?”

“Yeah, it’s good,” Nick murmured as he easily pulled Ellis into a hug, burying his chin in the damp curls of the mechanic’s hair.

Ellis’ face rubbed up against Nick’s chest when he was tugged in closer to the conman’s body.  “Yer chest hair tickles,” he said as he moved a hand up to rub at his now-itchy nose.

“Deal with it,” Nick replied with a snort.

Ellis could feel Nick smirking through the darkness of the room.  Being so close to the older man, he could smell the vague scent that was Nick, intermingled with the light odor of sweat and zombies and the rain.  But soon enough the warmth slowly building between them lulled him off into a deep, comfortable sleep while the rain poured down outside.

Chapter Text

Daylight seeped in through the cracks of the boarded up safe house window, which helped to rouse Ellis from his slumber.  As he slowly stirred awake, he realized that he was still in the comforting grasp of Nick’s arms with his cheek pressing against the conman’s lightly furred chest.  He gently pulled his face away from the other man, but he still managed to wake Nick up with his movements, even despite his effort not to.

“Shit, I’m sorry man,” Ellis said quietly as the gambler’s eyes fluttered open.  “You can go back to sleep if yer wantin’ to.”  He caught Nick’s half-lidded ice blue eyes with his own, and he grew a little uneasy when they gazed down at him.  They were still naked in the bed together, and he was even more painfully aware of it with the growing sunlight flooding the room.  He shifted awkwardly in Nick’s arms, and suddenly he realized that he was right to be on edge with the way that Nick was looking at him.  Because not long after, the conman’s lips were upon his.

Ellis made a little noise akin to a whine as Nick kissed him.  But shit, it was actually nice.  He didn’t expect the other man’s lips to be as soft as they were, with all of the sharp words that usually left his tongue on a daily basis.  Ellis found himself clumsily kissing the conman back, tasting the unique flavor that was Nick mixed in with the hint of morning breath.  It didn’t bother him though, it’s not like he could even remember the last time that he had brushed his own teeth.

After a few moments, Nick broke the kiss, and Ellis found himself looking back up at the older man who was now giving him a smirk.  He felt a flush start to warm his cheeks and he moved his hand up to lightly shove at the conman’s bare chest.  “Hey man, I thought ya said ‘no funny business’ last night.”

Nick chuckled at the words.  “Kid, you should know by now not to believe anything I say,” he said as he flicked his tongue out to lick his lips.  “Hmm, not bad.”

Ellis could feel his face get even redder with embarrassment and he picked up a pillow to shove it in Nick’s face.  “S-Shut up man.”

Nick laughed as he pushed the pillow aside and let it drop down to the mattress.  “Yeah, okay.  I deserved that.”

Chapter Text

Nick growled as he unhooked the bar from the safe room door, irritation just radiating from him as he tossed the metal piece aside.  “Come on, let’s go,” he grumbled when he stepped out of the room into the black lit hallway that led into the depths of the Tunnel of Love.

“Man, what’s got him so sore?” Ellis asked his other teammates as he watched the conman hastily exit the safe room.

Coach just shrugged at the mechanic’s inquiry, and Rochelle shook her head.

“Who knows sweetie,” Rochelle said as she slid one more clip of ammo into the back pocket of her jeans.  “We haven’t known him that long, but he’s always been kind of prickly if you haven’t noticed, Ellis.”

“I dunno, Nick’s a pretty cool guy if ya ask me,” Ellis said with a smile, completely oblivious to what the other survivors were seeing in the conman.  He grabbed his gun and headed towards the exit.  “I’m gonna go make sure he’s all right,” he announced, slipping out the door before the others had a chance to protest, or try to talk some sense into him.

As Ellis stepped up the stairs in front of him, he could hear the echo of gunshots reverberating through the tunnel, which meant that Nick was clearing the path of zombies.  It didn’t take him long to catch up to Nick, since there was a cluster of zombies that had congregated in the open space where the ride began.  Ellis found him just as he was about done taking them out.

“Dang, look at your jacket,” Ellis joked once Nick had killed all of the zombies around them, noticing that the black lights gave the conman’s jacket an even brighter glow to it.

Nick just huffed at the kid’s comment, not speaking as he charged ahead, heading down the tunnel and gunning down any zombies that dared to get in his way.

“Hey, wait up!” Ellis called out as he tagged behind the older man, not wanting to get separated from him, even if he was in a pissy mood.

The mechanic chased after Nick through the tunnel until they got to what looked to be a small maintenance room off to the side.  He breathed a sigh of relief as Nick entered the room to look for some supplies, grateful for the small break in the action.  He quickly followed Nick into the room and closed the door behind them.  Unfortunately, a quick scan of the room showed that it only held a propane tank and not much else.

“Don’t you reckon we should wait up for Ro an’ Coach?” Ellis asked as he watched Nick search every corner of the room behind the pipes that were housed in there.

“They’ll be fine,” Nick answered shortly as he crouched down to look under one of the pipes.  “Damn, nothing there either.”

Ellis shuffled closer to Nick and held his breath for a few seconds as he watched him get back up to standing.  He wanted to say something, and it took a few moments to finally get his nerve up.  “So uh… What’s gotcha all agitated-like, Nick?  I mean, we were in the safe house jokin’ around about The Tunnel of Love an’ stuff, an’ then all of a sudden you got all pissed off an’ stormed outta there.”  Ellis scratched his head with his free hand.  “I don’t get it.”

Nick stared at Ellis with hard, cold, ice blue eyes.  He dragged a hand through his hair and exhaled a sigh.  “Christ… You know how Coach and I were comparing Tunnel of Love stories and how many we have?”

Ellis nodded.  “Yeah?”

Nick chuckled as he looked down at the cement floor.  “I don’t really have any.  There, you happy?  I was just talking shit to make myself look good.  I’ve never been in a goddamn Tunnel of Love in my life and I’ve never done anything with anyone in one either.”  He looked back up at Ellis.  “Pathetic, right?  But then you had to come chasing after me like some goddamn puppy dog, and you just couldn’t leave me alone.  Why?”

“Well uh… I couldn’t leave ya out there with the zombies man, it ain’t safe!  An’ besides, I don’t think yer pathetic, it ain’t like I’ve ever done anythin’ with anyone in a Tunnel of Love neither.  Keith was always the one gettin’ the ladies, not me,” Ellis admitted with a bashful laugh.  He looked over to the older man.  “Hey, I got an idea!  Since you an’ me don’t got any good Tunnel of Love memories on our own, how ‘bout we make some together?”

Nick raised his eyebrow at the mechanic’s suggestion.  “Do you know what you’re asking, kiddo?”

Ellis laughed.  “Well of course I do Nick, I ain’t dumb if that’s what yer thinkin’.  But come on man, there ain’t nothin’ better than the two biggest bad asses in the zombie apocalypse kickin’ some zombie ass in the Tunnel of Love, right?”

Nick stared at Ellis for a moment in disbelief before bursting into laughter.  It took him a few moments to regain his composure so that he could speak again.  “Jesus Christ Ellis,” he said as he held his stomach, his voice still shaking from laughing so hard.  “First of all, that’s ridiculous.  Second of all, that’s not exactly what I was thinking.”

Ellis tilted his head in confusion.  “Well shit, what do ya mean then?”  Suddenly the penny dropped and he understood exactly what the gambler meant.  “Oh… Wait… I get it now.”  He laughed nervously.  “But that ain’t gonna work ‘cuz we’re two guys an’ all an’…”

Ellis’ words were quickly silenced by a set of thin lips pressing against his.  In the midst of his rambling and carrying on, he hadn’t noticed that Nick had gradually closed in on him.  His first instinct should have been to deck the older man, but instead he found himself closing his eyes and allowing himself to awkwardly return the kiss while tilting his head up towards the conman.

After a few moments of lips melding upon lips, Nick pulled away with a smirk.  “So, what was that about this ‘not working’?”  He teased as he peered down at Ellis, not hiding the amusement on his face.  “Because I’d say it worked out okay.”

Ellis’ cheeks flushed red, and he couldn’t quite work up the nerve to look Nick in the eyes, so he kept his face hidden under the brim of his cap.  “I mean… I guess… I guess that was all right,” he admitted softly.

“Just all right?” Nick said with a huff, acting like he was offended by the kid’s words.  “Then I’ll just have to show you something even better then.”

“Better?  Like what?” Ellis asked curiously as he watched Nick pick up and prop the lone propane tank against the closed door.

“Like this,” Nick replied lowly as he stepped towards Ellis.  Once more, the gambler’s lips descended upon the mechanic’s, but this time the kisses weren’t as tame as the previous ones.  No, these kisses were harsher, firmer and much more aggressive.

Ellis let out a little whimper when Nick coaxed his mouth open with his tongue, his head falling back against the concrete wall as the kiss was deepened.  The distinct taste of Nick flooded his taste buds as the conman explored his mouth, and somehow it wasn’t bad.  He made a muffled noise of surprise when Nick pressed up against him and rested his calloused hand upon the mechanic’s stubbled chin.  As they continued to kiss, Ellis noticed just exactly how warm the older man’s body really was as things gradually heated up between them.  That was something that had definitely never crossed his mind as a fact that he would eventually learn about the conman.

When Nick roughly ground his hips against Ellis’ groin, the mechanic pulled away from the kiss with a gasp.  “What… What’re ya doin’ Nick?” He asked as he panted softly.  As cliché as it may have sounded, the gambler’s kisses definitely took his breath away.

Nick smirked as he gazed down at Ellis.  “I told you, I was going to show you something better, remember?”  He said as he moved his hands down to the mechanic’s waist and gently tugged at the sleeves of Ellis’ coveralls that were tied there.  “You can’t have forgotten already, kiddo.”

For once in his life, Ellis’ tongue was tied.  He was confused about all of the conflicting feelings that flitted through his brain and his body and he had a hell of a lot of questions, but one thing was clear to him:  this was the zombie apocalypse and he could die at any given time.  “Okay,” Ellis said with a nod of his head.  “Yeah, let’s do this.”  He chuckled as he met Nick’s eyes.  “Whatever it is that yer wantin’ to do.”

As soon as Nick had gotten the go ahead from Ellis, he wasted no time in tugging the knot free from the younger man’s waist and shoving the thick pants down.  He then started to work at his own belt and zipper, quickly unfastening them with nimble fingers.

Ellis watched curiously as Nick undid his pants, both eager and nervous to find out what exactly the gambler had in mind for the two of them.  He glanced over to the door with the makeshift doorstop and jutted a thumb towards it.  “Ya know that’s not gonna keep the zombies out, right?”

The conman laughed.  “Yeah, but it’ll at least buy us some time if something decides to bust through,” Nick explained as he nudged his knee in between Ellis’ legs.  “So, we’ve got to make this quick,” he said as he snaked his hand down into the mechanic’s pants.

“Yeah… Oh,” Ellis got out in surprise when Nick’s ringed fingers wrapped around his dick.  He sure as hell didn’t expect that.  But honestly, he didn’t really know what he expected to happen.

“Just relax,” Nick said lowly as he began to stroke Ellis’ cock.

Ellis nodded, slightly embarrassed that he was half-hard to start, the conman’s kisses having had affected him in more ways than one.  As Nick’s hand moved upon his shaft, the thought of I can’t believe Nick’s actually doing this, constantly ran through his mind like a song stuck on repeat.  But that thought quickly got quelled when the spark of a familiar, pleasurable feeling lit up inside of him.

“That’s… That’s nice,” Ellis admitted with a flush of his cheeks, unable to make himself look down to actually see what Nick was doing.  All he knew is that he was impressed at how quickly the gambler was able to get him fully hard by just using his hand.

“I’m not aiming for nice,” Nick replied smugly as he used his other hand to pull his own dick out from inside of his pants.  “We said that we were going to make some good memories in here, right?”

“Y-Yeah, that’s right,” Ellis answered with as much confidence that he could muster up, despite the stutter in his voice.

“Well, what are we waiting for then?”  Nick didn’t wait for an answer this time.  He rocked his hips against Ellis, rubbing his own hard length against the Southerner’s.  Nick then grasped their cocks and wrapped his fingers around them, beginning to stroke them simultaneously while giving little ruts of his hips.  He wasn’t lying when he said that he was getting down to business.

“Oh shit!” Ellis gasped out at the new stimulation, letting his body slump back against the hard, cold wall.  He had never in his life ever done anything like what was currently happening between the two of them, and with how good the new sensation was feeling, he kind of regretted that he hadn’t.

“We’ve gotta be quiet,” Nick whispered after hearing Ellis’ voice echo through the room.  “Fortunately I know a new way to keep your voice down,” he said with a grin before leaning in to kiss the mechanic again.

Ellis could only make a muffled moan in response, since the gambler’s lips were pretty effective in silencing him.  And it was a good thing too, because holy shit did Nick know what he was doing.  Each roll of the gambler’s hips and every drag of his palm threatened to draw a groan from his throat, and Ellis easily found himself rocking his own hips into Nick’s grip.

Nick hummed softly into the mechanic’s mouth as he kept up the motion of both his hand and hips, the slight noise being the only indication to Ellis that the conman was having as good of a time as he was.  The gambler then nudged his tongue into Ellis’ mouth once again, likely to ensure that he could keep the Southerner quiet.

“Mmm… Mmph!” Ellis got out as he could feel himself getting closer, his abdomen starting to coil and clench with his arousal.  He was still a little embarrassed that it was a guy and Nick at that who was pulling such pleasant feelings from him, but he pushed those thoughts aside so that he could just enjoy what was happening between them.  After the start of the zombie apocalypse, there wasn’t a hell of a lot to enjoy in the world anymore, so he might as well take what he could get.  He eagerly returned Nick’s kisses, even daring to dart his own tongue into the gambler’s open mouth.

The noises spurred Nick on, and he even emitted his own hushed moan as he sped up, moving both his hand and his hips fervently, determined to get them both to the finish line sooner rather than later.

Ellis moaned louder when Nick quickened the pace, unable to stop the noise that rose from inside of him.  It was good, oh so good, and before he knew it, he realized that he was very close to the edge.  He couldn’t help but whine as he tensed up, trying to warn the conman that he was going to lose it and soon.

Nick grinned underneath Ellis’ lips when he heard the desperate sound, and he disconnected from their kiss just long enough to murmur, “Go on, fireball.”

Those words were all that Ellis needed, and he came with a buck of his hips, spilling his warm ejaculate over Nick’s hand with a muffled moan and an arch of his back.

Nick broke their kiss once Ellis had finished, and breathed “Christ, kiddo.”  He didn’t stop moving though, since he wanted to reach his own climax as well.  It only took the gambler a few more jerks of his hand before he was coming too, giving a gasp as his seed dripped over his fingertips onto the cement floor.

The two men remained still for a few moments, enjoying the buzz of pleasure that hummed in their bodies with the afterglow of orgasm.  They panted quietly against each other, and finally Ellis broke the silence between them.

“Shit.  I sure as hell didn’t expect that,” he said as he leaned back against the concrete wall with a satisfied sigh.

Nick chuckled as he used his free hand to dig a couple of napkins out of his coat pocket that he had picked up on the way through the amusement park.  He then motioned to Ellis to take one from him.  “Well, now we can say that we have some good goddamn memories in the Tunnel of Love, and in this zombie apocalypse.”

Ellis laughed as he took the napkin and began to clean himself up.  “Yeah, I reckon we do,” he agreed as he wiped away the mess that he had made.  It was still weird to him, what they had just done, but if Nick wasn’t worried about it, then hell, he wasn’t going to either.

The two of them didn’t take long to clean up and get decent again and as Nick was zipping up his pants, he said to Ellis, “Hey sport, let’s keep this between the two of us, okay?”

Ellis smiled and nodded.  “Yeah man, it’ll be our secret.”  He paused and thought for a moment.  “Do ya think that uh… maybe we can do somethin’ like this again?”

A smirk spread upon Nick’s lips at hearing the inquiry.  “You bet your ass we can.”  He walked towards the door and moved his doorstop so that they could leave.  “Now, let’s get out of here.  We’ve got a rescue to find.”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Ellis agreed as he eagerly followed the conman out the door.

Chapter Text

Sitting on the floor of the safe house, Nick let his head tip back and tap the wall behind him.  He was bored as hell.  Keeping watch while everyone else got some rest was not exactly his idea of ‘fun.’  Especially when it was dead quiet outside, literally.  But he volunteered to take the first watch just because he was typically an insomniac anyway, even despite the permanent exhaustion he seemed to be plagued with from constantly fighting to live.

He fiddled with his Magnum pistol in his gold ringed fingers before finally putting it down on the ground and pushing it aside so that he could allow himself to close his eyes for a moment.  He was tired.  Not enough that he would fall asleep, but it felt good to rest a little bit.  He soon found his mind wandering, trying not to think about the possibility of impending death past the barred, steel door.

Eventually he started fantasizing.  He hadn’t gotten laid since before the apocalypse started, and it’s not like there had been much opportunity for privacy while he and his teammates caught some rest in between all of their zombie encounters.  But tonight was different.  The rest of his group were sleeping soundly deeper in the confines of their current safe house, and he was all alone at the front to do what he pleased.

So that’s exactly what he did.

Nick wasted no time in unbuckling his belt, although he made an effort to be quiet about it.  No sense in alerting his comrades after all.  Once he was able to, he quietly unzipped his pants and slid his hand into his underwear.  He wasn’t hard just yet, but he grasped his dick anyway.  It wouldn’t take long for him to get worked up, especially since he hadn’t had any opportunities to until now.

He hummed softly as he tried to conjure up lewd images of people that he would love to bury himself in; busty brunettes, brilliant blondes and robust redheads.   With the way the world was now, there was no doubt that about ninety-nine percent of his fantasy material were currently zombies, but he didn’t let that thought bother him.  He just leisurely rubbed at his cock in order to coax it upright.

Once he was nice and firm, he started stroking himself a little bit harder and a little bit rougher.

God, what he would do to have someone suck his dick right now.  In Nick’s mind, it had been way too long since the last time, and considering the circumstances he was in, it probably wasn’t going to happen any time soon either.  Rochelle had already pretty much told him to his face that she couldn’t stand him, he didn’t even want to think about that sort of scenario with Coach, and Ellis… Actually, Ellis wasn’t half bad.

It was no secret that the youngest of their group admired him a lot, whether it extended to anything beyond that, Nick wasn’t sure.  And as annoying as the mechanic could be with the way he rambled on and god, the way that fucking Southern drawl would twang in his ear, the kid wasn’t bad looking.

Nick nipped at his lip as he dragged his hand up his shaft.  Now that he had a new subject for his fantasy, he easily delved into it.  Nick imagined the mechanic down in front of him, nestled in between his legs while on his hands and knees with his head bent down to suck his cock.  He then pictured Ellis taking his cockhead into his mouth, easing it in between those plump lips of his, and beginning to suck on it as he gazed at him with baby blue eyes.

“Fuck,” Nick breathed as he jerked himself harder, spreading his legs wide as if he was making room for the imaginary Ellis that was lodged in between them.  “Good, that’s good,” he murmured as he imagined Ellis taking more of his dick in his mouth, pulling it in between red, spit-slicked lips.

He moaned quietly as he pictured his cock sliding in and out of the mechanic’s mouth while he worked his length in his hand, gripping it tightly in an effort to simulate what was going on in his fantasy.  Nick could feel himself getting hotter with the motions while a pleasant, familiar feeling began to build up inside of him.

Nick panted softly while he worked himself up, his fantasy of Ellis’ hot mouth wrapped around his shaft easily helping to push him towards climax, and soon he was rocking his hips upward with a low, desperate whine.  “Yeah, yeah,” he mumbled as he visualized himself thrusting his cock in between that set of plush lips, and that was just the imagery he needed to finally tip him over the edge.

“Hah… ah…” Nick allowed himself to get out, stifling any louder noise that would possibly alert the rest of the group to what he had been doing.  He came all over his hand, white fluid spurting out to coat his thumb and index finger, but he didn’t care, the release was exactly what he needed.  He sighed as the orgasmic buzz still lingered through him, and he gave himself a moment to enjoy the pure pleasure of it.

After the moment had passed, he got up to find something to clean up with.  He didn’t want to leave any evidence behind of what he had done, nor did he want a sticky hand.  Nick managed to find some paper towels that were left on a table, and while he was cleaning himself off, he grinned when he thought back to his fantasy.  He might have to use that one another time, if the opportunity came up again.  What Ellis didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.