Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Another loop, another evening in the Round Table.

Another lonely night for Quincy.

And another decidedly not lonely one for the Drifter.

There they go, kissing up on that rockstar.. Making plans for later.. Big half-healed bite mark displayed proudly on their shoulder, showing through the neckline of that mesh shirt of theirs.. So much skin on display, for how modest they used to be.

Now. Quincy could hardly judge or complain, he is the one that played wingman for both instances of the Drifter getting with their partners, and he was damn happy for them. 

He knew what that time traveler had been through. What they’d seen. What they’d done. What had been done to them. They deserved every bit of love they fuckin’ got, after the lot life had handed them so far..

But.. That didn’t stop Quincy from being a bit jealous. Not specifically about the Drifter getting to be with their particular partners, just at the intimacy in general. If anything, he was jealous of Amir and Flare for getting to be with them. And that was a whole set of complicated feelings he had kicked under a rug a long time ago, by now.. Never to be dragged up again, he'd sworn to himself. For their sake, if not his own.

Quincy sighed, taking a swig from his beer as he saw the Drifter give a playful wave goodbye to Flare, a huge smile plastered across their usually gloomy face.

The Drifter turned from Flare to see Quincy at the bar, staring at them. Hard not to notice those reflective eyes of his piercing right through you if he wasn’t hidden away somewhere with his rifle. They hopped up to him; swinging their way over the railing then taking the stool right by Quincy. “Hey Q, all good? Quite a look you were giving me there.”

They just had to be so damn observant didn’t they. “I’m good. Just.. Thinkin’ some stuff over. Don’t worry yourself about it, fam.” Too late for that; Quincy could tell from the moment they sat themself down without asking. Great. This night was about to get worse in some way or another, as much as Quincy did appreciate his best friend's company on a usual night.

“Thinking things over.. While staring at me and Flare?”

“What? A professional wingman can’t appreciate a job well done?” Quincy grinned at the Drifter before taking another drink. Hopefully that was convincing enough to get them to fucking drop it.

The Drifter smirked back. “Hah, fair enough. I’d bet I’ve built up a bunch of favors with you over that without even realizing it..”

“Eh.” Quincy shrugged. “You’re good on that. If you did, I cashed all those in back when I went spewin’ shit about Duviri at Flare without askin’ you first. Think you taught me all the curse words in what, three different future languages?”

“Also fair enough. I’m still sorry for blowing up on you as much as I did about that.. Still love you, Q, even if you do get on my nerves sometimes.” The Drifter chuckled, gently nudging Quincy’s shoulder with theirs.

Oh he went quiet when they said the big ‘L’ word.. Quiet, and suddenly focusing his vision away from the Drifter, just sort of hazily looking into the middle distance.. Did he..

“..You’re not jealous of me are you?”

Again. Perceptive as always, though still a smidge dense; that or Quincy actually had done a good job of covering up that he still had a damn crush on them. “Eh.. Can’t much complain when I’m partially responsible for you gettin’ with ‘em, cuz.”

The Drifter furrowed their brow, leaning forward on the bar to get a better look at Quincy’s face. “..Is there a reason you’re drinking alone, Q? I know Arthur’s busy, but I think Aoi’s off at the moment..”

He gave a pointed look back. “Somethin’ wrong with a man havin’ a drink just to himself?”

“No, but that also doesn’t stop me from being worried about my best friend when it looks like he's sulking." Gods, those eyes of theirs are always staring into his damn soul..

Quincy sighed and rolled his eyes. They’re not gonna fuckin’ drop this unless you say something, Quincy. You know them well enough to know that they’re fuckin’ persistent. He downed the rest of the bottle in his hand and turned towards them in his seat. “If you’re tryin’ to ask me if I’m lonely, space trauma, yes.”

They tilted their head to the side curiously. “Why?”

Oh this was really starting to feel a bit like some of his and the Drifter’s early conversations with one another. “Don’t. Fuckin’ laugh. But. I.. Haven't exactly gotten laid in a while, and it’s hard not to get even a little jealous seeing you walk around all.. Claimed.” His eyes went very pointedly to the very distinct mark that one of their partners had left– Probably Flare, last time Quincy checked Amir was not one of the protoframes that had developed sharp teeth.

The Drifter looked to their shoulder, where they could see the bite taken out of themself. “Fair.. And I’m not gonna laugh.” They frowned. “I’d never make fun of you for that. Plus, I know you well enough to know you’re smooth with.. Anyone, really. Is there a particular reason you haven’t been with anyone lately?”

Quincy glared at them. “Askin’ me about my fuckin’ sex life in the middle of a quiet bar.. Sometimes I do actually manage to forget you’re a sheltered time traveler, D, but this is. Not one of those times.” 

The Drifter looked somewhat offended at that. “Hey! ..Okay, fair.” They put their hands up in surrender, realizing how that did sound with a moment of hindsight. “I’m just trying to see if I could return the favor to you. Wingman my wingman, y’know?”

Quincy's face softened a bit, chuckling at that. “Real appreciated, seriously, but not. Precisely the issue here. I can get with whatever pretty folk I want in theory, it's just..”

“Just..?”

Quincy. You’re not going to wriggle out of this now. 

“..C’mon, D. Let’s go for a walk.” Quincy got up and started heading for the back door to the bar; the fastest way out of the mall would be through the Round Table’s storage.

“Alright..” The Drifter got up, unwrapping the flannel from around their waist and throwing it on before stepping out into the chill of an early spring evening. 

Quincy led the Drifter up to a balcony off the roof of the mall, leaning his elbows on the railing to look out over Höllvania, while the Drifter leaned back on it to keep that gaze of theirs focused on him. 

Quincy took a deep, sighing breath before speaking. “Now. This all stays here and nowhere else. You act like you heard nothing from me.” He said deadly seriously, looking to the Drifter for confirmation.

“Secret’s safe with me, as always. Pinky swear it.” The Drifter said with that soft, kind smile of theirs, holding up a pinky finger.

Quincy chuckled at that, shaking his head. “You’re around Aoi and Amir way too much.” But he did seal that pinky swear. As childish as it felt. “..I hooked up with this. Absolutely fuckin’ breathtaking girl that helps keep the place together out at the east shelter, couple weeks ago. Second time her and I have banged, at that..”

The Drifter furrowed their brow, trying to piece together where Quincy was going with this. “..You caught feelings for someone that.. Y’know..”

Quincy scoffed. “What? Someone that gets reset? No. No.. Not sure if that would be better or worse. No, we– last time I hooked up with her it was. A couple’a loops ago.”

“Oh..” Drifter was starting to get it.

Quincy snapped his fingers, pointing at the Drifter. “You’re startin’ to get me, I think. Yeah. Second time I got with her, but she doesn’t remember the first one. Thought it’d be fine with me, not like I used that info against her or anything, and it’s not like she didn’t want to be with me, but. Still makes me feel right sick with myself, thinkin' about it too hard. So, I’ve sworn that off. Fuckin’ blows thinkin’ about how I’ll never get that again though, ‘specially with you, Amir and Flare committing so much damn PDA.”

“PDA?”

Right. Still hasn’t picked up on everything 1999-wise, even a few years in. “Public display of affection. Kissin’ up on each other all the damn time.” He pointed to that bite mark again.

Oh. Whoops. “Ah. Sorry, Quincy..” The Drifter sheepishly smiled, finally looking away from Quincy for a few moments.

Quincy shook his head. “Don’t be. Don’t want you or them hiding your happiness and love away just for lonely ol’ Quincy-K.” And he wasn’t hiding anything behind that, truly. He really was glad to see those three so damn happy.

The Drifter stood there for a few seconds in thought. This was a whole can of worms– a phrase they had picked up on– but they apparently already had the can opener in their hands given how they started this conversation, so why not? “..Have you ever thought about dating any of the others?”

Quincy burst out laughing. “Oh, you’ve got to be joking, Drifter. Who.”

Drifter started assembling a list in their head. “Well.. Not Kaya obviously. Or Velimir or Minerva– No. Quincy. ” They scolded their friend like they were trying to get a piece of plastic out of Kalymos’s mouth, ”I see that look on your face. Did you try hitting on the married couple?” The Drifter glared somewhat playfully at Quincy, who had obviously started thinking about the concept of being with either or both of those old spies the moment Drifter brought them up. That face was a bit too wistful for Quincy’s usual standards for him not to be thinking about that.

“No. I’m not suicidal, cuz..“ Although.. ”Doesn’t stop a guy from thinkin’ about what it would be like between the hot MILF and DILF, though.” He said with a suggestive grin, that slowly fell as he turned the idea over in his head a bit more.. Oh Sol, Quincy, they’d kill you even if they said yes. Minerva might anyway.

The Drifter laughed. “Oh no, this really is starting to drive you crazy.. Actually, no, I saw how you talked about them when they first got here, that tracks. Anyway.. Not them. Not Flare either, probably? I know you have a thing about Lizzie, and I don’t think they’re your type?”

Nothing in that about the fact that they’re your and Amir’s partner? Seriously, what the fuck is going on lately. Not even in a negative way, just a fuckin’ confounding way. Quincy shrugged. “Yeah, they’re hot.. No pun intended. Can’t deny that all their fire and glitter’s caught my attention a few times.. But yeah, not exactly my sort.. Especially with the techrot guitar. No offense.” Mostly. Lizzie still creeped him the fuck out, no matter how friendly she was.

“So none of the newer additions..” Going to go a very particular direction through the others.. Drifter knew where they were going with this, but they didn’t want to jump right to the topic that might get them punched in the face. “Not Amir, I know you two have a more.. Sibling-ish thing going on. Aoi?”

“She’s sweet, and I respect the hell out of her, but no.”

Drifter leveled a very serious look at him. “And not because Arthur dated her, right?”

“No. That would. Make things a touch awkward, yea, but no, that's not why. We’re just mates. Besides, I think she's sworn off men since the Arthur incident.”

“Eleanor?”

“Oh, fuck no.” 

The Drifter’s glare returned, intensified. They were even more defensive of Eleanor than they were of Aoi, and that was saying something. “What? The tongue or the fact that she’s Arthur’s sister?”

“Neither. You fuckin' know why.” Quincy glared back, as if his reasoning there should have been obvious. “I’ve known both of ‘em longer than you, but I know you’re close with her.. Here I go again, probably sayin’ shit I shouldn’t, but I’m sure you know about Christopher.” 

The Drifter’s look softened at the mention of him, and they nodded. “She.. She told me about him, yeah..”

“I wasn’t there when any of that shit happened, but.. I’ve seen what both of ‘em are like around a particular day of the year. Seen her. Even if I wanted to be more than just mates with Elle, I couldn’t do that to her. I’m no ‘hero virus’ sufferer like His Maj, but if anything happened to me, even if I came back on the reset? Couldn't do it. Couldn’t bear puttin’ her through that again. So no. Not Eleanor.” He turned his gaze back away from them, back out to the city. 

Try and lighten the mood a bit, Drifter.. “..You and Lettie would have a lot of fun I think, but she’d probably kill you.” 

Quincy laughed. “Or we’d be more fuckin’ insufferable than you and your little happy triangle. Fuckin’ unstoppable. But yeah. Probably not.. So. There’s your answer; nothin’ long term in my future, fam.” Deliberately ignoring the fact that they hadn’t touched one particular member of the Hex at all yet, please keep it that way.. ”I appreciate the effort though, really do.”

The Drifter slid down the railing a bit, nudging their shoulder against his with a sultry little grin on their face.  “1. Not exactly long term like we've been talking about, but.. Nothing says friends can’t have fun..” 

..Were they getting at what you think they’re getting at, Q? Sol, that sent his mind spinning. There was a little part inside of Quincy that started to feel like he was in school again all of a sudden, standing on a rooftop with some pretty classmate that was out of his league back then. Waking up that dormant little spark that had maintained that crush on Drifter this whole time, even past them telling him they were done with the flirting. “..Didn’t think you were much of the casual kind. Given how.. Intense you are with your lovebirds.” Especially given how possessive one aspect of one of their two partners was, as far as he knew. ‘Our Flare’ this, ‘Our Demon’ that, ‘Our Pup’ a few other times that immediately sent said ‘pup’ flying down the nearest hallway in embarrassment.

“..Wait, do you think this bite mark on my shoulder is from Flare?” The Drifter smirked. “Flare was busy working on mixing a new song all last night and crashed when they got home.”

Quincy gave them a bewildered look, trying to piece together the implication. Wait, if not them– “Who the fuck bit you, then–”

“Eleanor.” They sounded proud about that.

What. “What?” Quincy’s eyes went wide. Truly, what the fuck is going on.

The Drifter shrugged. “Amir and Flare are cool with it, if that’s what you’re concerned about. They know and are confident in my dedication to them. It was girls’ night plus me over in Aoi’s room and things got.. Kiss-y. And more than kissy, eventually, if we’re being honest.. ” Their cheeks went a bit flushed, admitting that last bit.

Okay, now that had Quincy a bit too curious. “..Just you and Elle or?”

“Me and Elle, Lizzie and Elle–”

The guitar– Sol, Quincy was immediately regretting asking now. That image is going to be seared in your head until the end of time, Q.. However the fuck that worked– Oh gods don’t think of multiple possibilities, that’s worse. 

“Elle and Aoi, Elle and Lettie..” Drifter said that with some pride too, for some reason, “Just about everyone on each other at some point really, kissing or more, though not me or Liz with Lettie. Wasn't anything serious, just some fun that spiraled out of a couple of party games.. Well, actually, I think Eleanor, Lettie and Aoi might be something serious?” They made a confused look, thinking over the complex situation that was. ”In some combination or another, definitely not a.. Clean setup like me and mine have. Certainly a lot of tension there. But- to be clear- I’m not sure if they’re open to talking about that yet, so that also stays just in this conversation.” 

“Pinky still sworn.” Quincy chuckled, shaking his head. Sol, the Drifter had changed a lot since he met them.. From a sheltered mess that took two years to even try admitting they wanted to date Amir to..

This next part was thought affectionately and with zero judgement given his usual escapades; they'd become kind of a slut. Good for them, especially since it seemed to make them very happy.

Back to the Drifter's original point.. They leaned up and said this softly, just a few inches from Quincy's ear. “I also don’t think Amir or Flare would mind if we fooled around sometime.. If you still think I'm pretty, that is.”

If they were still in the bar with a drink in his hand, Quincy probably would have just done a spit-take. Fucking hell, they were insinuating that a minute ago. “..I don’t need a pity fuck.” Not that he truly thought they were pitying him, just.. Further deflecting from those feelings he was very much avoiding digging up, that had started crawling back up the back of his mind, filling it with visions of his hands all over them now that Drifter had cracked that door open and invited him in..

“Never said it would be?” The Drifter raised an eyebrow. “Quincy. You know that flirting when I first got here was not one sided, and I’m not just offering because you’re lonely. I do love you.”

Sol, hearing them say that again hit Quincy like a truckload of bricks..

Drifter did pick up on that, even if they didn’t have the full gist of Quincy’s feelings. “Platonically.” They put a foot down there, which hopefully wasn’t too heartbreaking. “But I do. Just because that love isn’t romantic doesn’t mean it’s not just as serious to me as the love I have for Amir, Flare and Lizzie. Same goes for my platonic feelings for Elle and Aoi. I care about you a lot, Quincy.. And.. Admittedly, I’m not.. Usually into guys, I don’t think? But I can appreciate the goods, as you’ve said in the past.” They winked at him. “I’m open to ‘platonic’ being a bit more physical, if you are. Occasionally at least. I’ve found that sex lets me.. Show my appreciation for the people I care about in ways that I can’t show with my words.”

Okay.. Putting that on the table for later, maybe. After.. Fucking hell. After unpacking a lot of complicated thoughts that just all got dragged up.. That he’d need to talk over with them. Put that down. Simplify things for now. Hopefully.

Quincy smiled at the Drifter, regarding the soft expression they were giving him. They did look genuine about that, and he knew they hardly ever faked their emotions. “..Thanks. Seriously. I know I’m a bit of an asshole to you sometimes, but I.. I do too. Care about you that is, Drifter." Deliberately avoiding saying the L word. "We can..” He cleared his throat. “We can talk about that later. You said ‘1.’ That implies a 2.” Here we fuckin’ go, just rip the plaster off, Drifter.. There was another topic clearly on their mind– They were perceptive, and he clearly cut them off before they mentioned someone that was on both of their minds.

The Drifter shifted away from Quincy a bit now, also silently agreeing to table the previous topic for later. “2. Arthur.”

Yyyyeah, that’s where Quincy was worried they were going. “What about him.” Looking very, very much away from them, now.

The Drifter re-contextualized what Quincy just said, “What about him? I know the history between you is tense–”

There they go putting things exceptionally fucking lightly again.. And/or sugarcoating something. They're great at that, Quincy thought bitterly.

“-But I see the way you look at him, when you know you’re in his blind spot. He might not see it, I can. You actually do care about him. It’s not just a ‘you owe him’ thing, and I can fucking tell that. And, let’s be real, Quincy, by this point both of you have saved each others’ asses several times over, past your time in Crimson Watch, past the ICR, past New Years. I think you can drop the ‘I owe him my life’ shit at this point.” The Drifter said, their soft tone gone very serious, “And that kind of thing doesn’t need to be romantic, I’ve caught onto that already, but-”

Quincy snapped, cutting them off, “I’m not dating fuckin’ Arthur. Don’t know where you’re getting any of that shit from.” 

The Drifter looked genuinely confused. “Wait.. Have you two seriously never done anything together? Before this even? ICR? Army?”

Quincy gave an exceptionally bewildered glare in the Drifter’s direction. “No?!” What the fuck?!

The Drifter made a shocked face, genuinely not expecting that. “..Huh. Figured that might be the true point of tension neither of you want to say, that you two dated before he dated Aoi and–”

“And what, I fumbled Arthur?”

The Drifter grimaced, remembering a particular conversation with Aoi about her experience dating Arthur.. “No, more that he fumbled you like he fumbled her.” The Drifter said with an uncomfortable little smile like ‘we both know what he was like back then’. “..But seriously, you feel nothing like that for him?”

“No.” Quincy lied. “‘Sides. No way that would go both ways even if I did.”

Drifter didn’t pity Quincy before, but they kind of did now, judging by the pout they just made at him. “Oh, Quincy. You’re even blinder than he is..”

Starting to regret talking about any of this. “The fuck’s that supposed to mean, Drifter.”

“Maybe I’ve misinterpreted how you look at him. But..” They settled in a bit, figuring out how they wanted to word this, ”He hardly ever shows emotions.. You know that. It's very obvious. But, I'm pretty sure I’ve got a read on him in a way that I don’t think anyone else does. And he cares so goddamn much about you, Q. Even if he’s shit at showing it.” The Drifter started mulling over whether they wanted to be the one to tell someone else’s secrets right now.. Fine. As long as it stays in this conversation. And they did trust Quincy on that. They took a deep breath, and opened the next can of worms, stolen from Arthur’s shelf. “..You coming back on New Years meant fucking everything to him. And he beats the shit out of himself for what happened to you because of it.” They said, focusing their eyes back on Quincy to gauge his reaction.

“Wouldn’t kill broodsword over there to fuckin’ show it once in his damn life.” Quincy turned away from them again, eyes focused towards his feet. He. He knew. A bit, anyway. It was clear from Arthur’s face, those first couple of days after that first reset. 

The way he looked at Quincy like a damn ghost more than he did at anyone else, even his own twin.

“I know. Trust me, I know.” Arthur was one of the Hex that the Drifter was least close to and that was not by choice. Arthur and the Drifter reminded each other a bit too much of themselves at the worst of times, and that drew a wedge between them more than it brought them closer to one another. There was a reason why the both of them called each other the leader of the Hex, and it was because they always felt like they were looking in a mirror at each other. “..Here I go saying something I probably shouldn’t–”

“You haven’t already been doing that, D?” Quincy shot out; pinpoint accurate as always.

Ignoring that. “-Did I ever tell you about the first time that I transferred into Arthur? Well. Second. I don’t count that first one when I was still.. Calibrating to all of this.” They gestured generally to the open air, as if referencing to 1999 itself.

“No, but.. Heard from Lettie he sent you out on your face into the damn concrete the same way.” Quincy chuckled a bit at the thought. Tiniest bit of schadenfreude at the thought of the Drifter bouncing off the pavement like that, given the amount of poking and prodding they were doing at the moment.

“Yeah and he did that for a good reason. I don’t blame him. It was. Just a few days after New Years; he was hesitant about me doing anything like that but.. You know him. He sort of.. Submitted himself to his fate as he saw it. Greater good and all that crap.”

“You don’t have to do this, Arthur.” The Drifter said on the first loop, still dressed like a space alien and still feeling like a stranger in the place they would someday call home.. Still feeling, as a very good friend would put it loops onward, like a brick thrown into a greenhouse.

Them and Arthur stood in an empty part of the parking garage, where Arthur had set up a few busted pieces of furniture and other broken objects around to act as target practice or training dummies. Lots of crushed metal from Aoi practicing and thoroughly shorted electronics that couldn’t be fixed from when Amir was still struggling with controlling his that were now relegated to practice targets.

Arthur sighed. “And I don’t want to. But if.. All this is our fate.. If that is.” Arthur eyed the Drifter’s Volt Prime, standing stock still like a soldier at attention nearby. “I need to get used to you being in my damn head or it’s going to be a liability someday.”

“Alright.. Well. You know how to get me out, if it gets to be too much.” Arthur’s the first one the Drifter knew of that could do that, even. Well, aside from Umbra, but he was a special case too. 

The Drifter took a deep breath and transferred in. They were still exceptionally messy at this, this would only be their second time transferring into any of the protoframes, and both times were with Arthur. At the moment, they didn’t want to touch that, didn’t want to accidentally flash any of them with memories of their own or each others deaths, or break trust or freak them out and scare them off, but Arthur had insisted to do this..

And good gods, Arthur was not taking it well. Despite his given consent, he was still fighting this, and the Drifter did not blame him for that. So, they made a mistake. Open themself up a bit more instead of waiting for Arthur to settle himself, maybe being with him is like being in transference with Umbra and you just have to get used to the shitty memories flowing back and forth–

As soon as any equilibrium was found, Arthur immediately shuddered in utter horror at what came back through the Drifter’s worries. And what he could tell they were looking at.

Without context, all of the trauma relating to his history as a soldier, that he would then spend months refusing to actually tell them about, came out in one big shotgun blast to their mind. The rest of New Year’s that the Drifter didn’t see. What it was like to look back at that Excalibur they came in as, uncomfortably overlaid with the Drifter's own memory of looking him in the eye through that Excalibur, unsure of who or what he was. 

The worst, though, was one sight that came from the Drifter’s end that would never leave Arthur’s mind.

He’d seen horrors of war before, yes. Plenty of times. Friend and foe alike shot up, blown up, chopped to bits.. But oh, Sol this was so much worse in a way that he had never realized it could be worse.

For even a moment, Arthur stood where the Drifter did, gripping onto that shadowy line on the Zariman, chasing after Quincy’s voice with fear in their heart from having seen Lettie and Eleanor go down. Then getting a flash of them attempting to transfer to him, and seeing the crater, the ash, the pieces of him that were left. A cluster of beads from his braids here, his arm there, a piece of his Neutralizer jammed into the wall by the explosive force of the shell..

Immediately the Drifter was shunted from Arthur’s mind and slammed face-first into the pavement; fracturing their nose a bit by the sheer force of the impact. They scrambled back on their elbows, fully expecting to have that skana drawn on them again..

Arthur wasn’t about to attack them. He was crying. Fucking sobbing uncontrollably, reeling back from them but not running, just desperately trying not to be seen without caving to what he saw as cowardice. Uselessly so, given the well-lit, open environment the two of them were in. “Fuck.. Fucking hells..” He gripped the handle of his skana– he wasn't thinking for a moment of drawing it on the Drifter, just grabbing onto it for comfort– holding tight onto that bright red scarf tied to it..

“I’m. I’m sorry, Arthur, I didn’t. I didn’t mean to show you that.” Through the sparks of transference static, The Drifter processed what he’d seen.. It was clear there was an intense tension between Arthur and Quincy, but they had history they couldn’t comprehend quite yet, that they did not intend to prod at, let alone like that. They never intended to tell Arthur what happened to Quincy, ever, and now they just projected not just the facts but the feeling of seeing the aftermath right into his mind..

Arthur struggled to speak, trying not to sound too much like he was crying despite the fact that it was painfully bleeding obvious that he was. “..We’ll. We’ll try this again s-some.. Some other day. Go.”

The Drifter stood up and slowly approached, “..Are you okay, Arthur?” They said softly, hovering a palm over his shoulder, hesitating to actually give the comforting touch they wanted to.

Arthur glared at them, sharply enough that they immediately jumped back a few steps. “Go. That’s an order, Marty.”

The Drifter backed off slowly, hands up in surrender. Hard not to feel like that glare on them was like having a gun pulled on them. “Okay.. Sorry. Let me know if you need me.”

The Drifter transferred back into Volt and walked off back into the mall.. As soon as their footsteps faded out of his earshot, Arthur collapsed to the ground in tears, fully giving into his own emotions now that he was certain he was alone.

“I truly never meant to show him that. I never wanted any of you to know what happened to each other, if I could have helped it. I.. I barely knew how to connect with any of you, especially him, so.. Things got.. Messy.” The Drifter still sounded guilty for that, even if it really wasn’t their fault.

“Fuck, D..” Quincy had. Never seen Arthur cry before, really. Certainly not like that. But it didn’t sound like the Drifter was exaggerating. They were terribly honest at the best of times and this wasn’t something they’d lie about lightly.. Was Arthur really that broken up seeing Quincy’s death back then, even second-handedly through the Drifter’s memories?

“He.. Also didn’t, and still doesn't, know I could still feel him crying out there.” They chuckled awkwardly. “Whenever we patrol near that path.. Sometimes I catch him looking up there. Where your sniper nest is on New Years. I think he left flowers there once or twice, or poured one out for you. Even though you’re alive, he treats it like your grave. Sometimes I still catch him looking at you like you’re a ghost, especially if he’s been drinking.. Like I said. He beats the shit out of himself for you coming back. Feels like he caused it.”

Quincy scoffed. “I didn’t come back for him. Came back for.. All of this. Couldn’t live with the doubt.. Probably would’ve died out there anyway, with how big the blast really was..” Lying again. Even if it was to make good on a debt, he did come back for Arthur, above the Hex, or their cause, or Höllvania herself. 

“Still. I know all too well what it feels like to have guilt that doesn’t quite make sense. To be honest, I feel it every time I think too hard about all of you.. About how Entrati probably did this to all of you for me. I didn’t ask for that. None of you did either. But I don’t blame the way that all of you looked at me a bit like I was Entrati those first few weeks.” Amir really didn’t, neither did Aoi, but.. Again. Still. They caught the looks they got whenever they skulked around with Kalymos at their side. The double-takes wondering if 'Doktor Friday' had casually walked back in.

“So you think ‘cause he thinks he killed me on New Years that he’s got feelings for me, D?” Still sounded absurd. Quincy was reminding himself now that the Drifter grew up in a literal storybook..

“Kind of? He’s. There’s a reason he hates running with me in his head, or letting Elle in. He’s really good at keeping his emotions under lock and key outside, but he’s exceptionally honest inside. I’m not going to spill any more of his secrets, but.. He cares a lot about you, Quincy. I don’t know if that’s in a romantic sense at all, but.. I’ve seen the way he looks at you, too. When you’re not looking at him. And.. I. Definitely might be projecting, but when I see him doing that, I see myself, looking at Amir before we got together. Scared to hell the Man in the Wall would snap him up if I dared to say that I loved him. Remembering what it was like to see him die. Like if I dared touch him he’d shatter like a shade in a dream.”

Quincy bit into his lip. Got him doubting, now.. Mentally turning over that melancholy look that Arthur almost always gave him when they were a bit too deep in their cups late at night. “..I’m not going to fucking date him. Drifter. No.”

“You’re absolutely certain.” The Drifter focused that damn analytical gaze on him again. Picking every little twitch of his face apart like one of their guns.. 

“Yes. I’m sure, so stop pushin’ it or I’m going to punch you, D.” Said like this wasn’t going to be the only thing on his mind until he confronted Arthur about anything related to this.. Only thing other than his thoughts about Drifter, which this conversation reminded him about why those thoughts were so complex, beyond them calling off the flirting. 

It was probably a good thing you two never dated, Quincy.. It would be nice for a bit and then you’d pick each other apart like this until there was nothing left. That’s what he told himself, anyway, to cast away the bit of heartbreak that lingered deep in his mind.

“Alright.. Let me know if you still want to talk about that other thing, later. You know where to find me.” The Drifter kicked off the side of the railing and started heading towards the staircase back towards the mall. Getting a devious little idea, they started to sing, focusing into the fry of their lower register to do their best to sound like Arthur. They also took a deliberately slow path down. If Quincy wants to catch up and punch them for this, let him. That’d be acknowledging that this does get to you, Q.

“Cold blows the wind o’er my true love, cold are the drops of rain. I only had but one true love, and in Höllvania he lies slain.

I’ll do as much for my true love, as any young man may. I’ll sit and moan down by his grave, for a twelve-month and a day.

When twelve months and one day was past, his ghost began to speak; ‘Why dost thou sit upon my grave and will not let me sleep?’”

Drifter.. Fucking bastard. That song again. Not quite how Arthur sang it, but it was still fucking recognizable. Ugh. Even their voice sends that chill down Quincy’s spine.. Goddamn emo banshees, the both of ‘em..

“There is one thing that I want, dear heart, there is one thing that I crave, and that is a kiss from your sweet lips, then I’ll go from your grave..” They made sure to emphasize this next part, remembering the part that stuck in Quincy’s head.. “‘O, My lips, they are as cold as clay– my breath is earthly strong. And if you were to kiss my cold, clay lips; then your days, they’d not be long..’”

Quincy’s grip tightened on the railing hard enough he almost bent it under his protoframe strength. What gods-damned demented Cupid are they trying to be, bringing all this shit up, and then continuing to bring shit up. They said they’d drop it and yet there they fucking are, no way to deny why they’d sing that of all songs.

At this point, the Drifter was leaned up against the outside of the mall below beside the door back inside, resolving to finish their song– kind of a cobbled together memory of how Arthur sang it and a version or two they’d found elsewhere, really.. With a couple changes of their own.

“‘Go fetch me water from the desert, and blood from out of stone. Go fetch me milk from a fair maid’s breast, that young man never has known. Go dig a grave, both wide and deep, as quickly as you may.. I’ll lay down with you and take my sleep for a twelve-month and a day..'” He’s still standing up there, not moving.. They could just barely see his braids blowing in the breeze..

“When will we meet again, sweetheart? When will we meet again? ‘When the clocks turn back and those that fell grow warm and spring up again..’”

Chapter Text

Arthur approached the Drifter as they made their way back into the mall, his face screwed up in confusion as he scanned the bar, not seeing any sign of the person he was expecting to see among the crowd.  “Marty– Where’s Quincy? I thought I saw him heading in here a bit ago.”

“Ah. Looking for him? Is it critically important? Because I don’t think he’s much in the talking mood at the moment.” The Drifter said with a tilt of their head. A bit of providence that he of all people is looking for Quincy at the moment, but.. Far too soon after they’d brought all that up in his head. If Quincy was about to punch them for mentioning that, he’d definitely punch Arthur– Surely that wasn’t why he was looking for Q, though, get your head out of the clouds, Drifter.

“Not. Critical, no, but..” Arthur mirrored that tilt of the head that Drifter was giving him. Their expression was calm, but it was clear there was something lingering behind those eyes of theirs.. Always dangerous territory with them. That very knowing look of theirs always reminded him a bit of his sister. “..Is he alright?”

Drifter nodded. “Mostly. He will be, at least. Nothing for you to worry about.” They said matter-of-factly, and with no hint that they intended to elaborate.

..Or like looking into his own reflection. Used to be the same difference, to be fair. “And I’m guessing on your honor to him, you have no intent to give any more than that.” Arthur said with a sigh, shoulders slumping in defeat.

“Right you are, Arthur.” The Drifter’s focus seemed to, well, drift away for a moment. If Quincy won’t talk about his feelings on this.. It’s even more unlikely, but maybe Arthur will? They refocused on Arthur, walking up closer to speak a bit quieter. “Hey. Can I talk to you about something? In private.” 

And that was even more concerning. Usually Arthur was the one to insist a conversation be taken in a more private space. So, either Drifter suddenly sprouted some sense in that head of theirs, or Arthur did have something to be worried about. “..Sure?” 

Arthur braced himself as the two of them tucked away into a quiet, dark back hallway of the mall where they both knew no civilians traveled through; old habits from the societal norms usually associated with the space they were in, despite the fact that this hadn’t been a shopping mall in a while, and would likely never be ever again.

The Drifter leaned up against a wall and took a deep breath, focusing their smoldering eyes on Arthur. “So.. I know you’re a very. Work-oriented sort.”

Where were they going, here? Arthur expected them to immediately reveal some kind of new horror landing on their doorstep, not whatever this was–

“But, I’ve been curious– I have Amir and my rockstars..” Mm. might as well mention this too, they knew either Arthur was sharp enough to catch onto this already, or that he wouldn’t tell.. “Aoi has Eleanor and they both have Lettie..”

Arthur crossed his arms, glaring down the Drifter with an uncomfortable expression on his face. Drifter and him had never talked.. Relationships, not aside from the talk of his past with Aoi, and him congratulating them for finding happiness with their own partners.. “What are you getting at.”

“Are you happy, being alone?” The Drifter said, still maintaining that gently calm, serious expression that always set Arthur a bit on edge if they weren’t out on the field. “I’m not judging if you are. As much as it might not seem it by the way I act, I do understand how complicated it is forming a relationship in the situation we’re in.”

Arthur let out a deep sigh, mirroring the Drifter’s pose by leaning up against a nearby pillar. “Is there a reason you’re bringing this up?”

“Call it concern for a friend.” Specifically not mentioning which one, there; Arthur or someone else.. “You can be honest with me, you know that. I won’t tell.” The irony, given the exposed nerve of a situation they had told Quincy about earlier, but.. Other than that particular instance, they were serious.

Arthur was.. Terribly lonely. Sure– every member of the Hex he’d call his friend at the very least. 

Drifter was one of that number, they were one of them, after all. Though there was a wall between them in some areas, they’d kill for each other, die for each other, and he’d follow that time traveler to the edge of the universe if they asked.. And he knew they’d do the unimaginable time, and time, and time again to bring any one of them happiness. That’s what this was, wasn’t it. Shit.

But.. Anything beyond being friends, with anyone? He’d resigned himself away from that a very long time ago, before the loop even, really. The moment he watched Aoi throw those cranes into the road, he told himself he didn’t deserve that. Not after how much he hurt her without realizing. 

Especially not with the loop. Fall in love with a protoframe? Break up with them and you’re still tied at the hip until the end of time. Fall in love with anyone else? They’ll forget you in a year’s time, at best. And at this point, Arthur had long accepted that there was no chance any of them would truly escape this, Kaya's excursions or no, so the thought of finding love in the future was a dream of a dream.

But yes, he was exceptionally lonely. Happy to see the Drifter walk by with Amir or Flare on their arm, see the way Aoi smiled at Eleanor.. Lettie smiling at either of them, especially when she was fairly certain Eleanor wasn’t paying attention. Happy to see those two Libertatian spies had made up and found their love again. 

And just like Quincy earlier, his mind deliberately ignored a particular person. No matter how much he weighed on Arthur’s shoulders at every moment. Watching him run away on New Years. Dying in the first moment of the reactor going off, waking up staring directly into those dark eyes on the mall floor with this lingering feeling of guilt and grief that he couldn’t quite place until the Drifter showed him the horror of what happened to that.. Absolutely beautiful man..

The Drifter expected he might get like this if they asked, even with the reassurance. Arthur had been standing there for what felt like forever, staring down at the ground with that utterly haunted expression of his. He was clearly mulling it over, at the very least, or he’d have left by now.. “You don’t have to tell me. But I am worried about you. I don’t know how much weight you put on that sort of relationship, but–”

“Yes, Marty. I am lonely.” Arthur interrupted, sounding exceptionally defeated. “And no, I’m not happy about it. But it is what it is. It’s the lot life has dealt me, and I can handle it. I'm a grown man. You’re not going to lose me to The Indifference just because I don’t have someone to snog like you do.”

That tone said otherwise, Arthur.. Also since when did being a grown man stop you from- The Drifter was very glad, genuinely, that some aspects of 20th century masculinity bounced right off of them. “I’m not accusing you of that. I just wanted to know if you were willing to talk about it. It's alright to not be okay with that.” The Drifter said, walking up closer to him. They didn’t want to make him feel cornered, they knew how awful that felt. That was one of those points where the Drifter knew he and they were alike on, but they did want to close the distance. Arthur wasn’t a touchy person like they were, so they were resisting wrapping an arm around him as they would with just about anyone else, but breaking that personal bubble of his was just about as intimate for the two of them. “I care about you, Arthur. You deserve to be as happy as anyone else.”

Arthur sighed. Fine, but, “..What is there to say? There’s nothing to be done about it. Like you said. You– not that I’m interested in you like that,” Which he wasn’t lying about, “You have your partners, Aoi and I.. You’re aware of that. Evidently both Lettie and her prefer my sister, which, good for them and I hope that brings them happiness.. Aaaand anyone else eligible around here has their memories reset every 12 months. So. That’s it, then.”

Ah. Here we go, he’s also refusing to acknowledge someone in particular, just as that someone did earlier. Or, maybe.. Drifter actually felt a bit stupid now not confirming this first, “Mm.. Another blunt question incoming; am I wrong in my inference that you ah.. Swing both ways?”

Somehow Arthur looked more taken aback by that then by the Drifter bringing this entire topic up in the first place, which was saying something. 

“Ah. I–” Arthur did, he did swing both ways, but. Wouldn’t fault anyone for not noticing. Blame that on a conservative upbringing and years of macho military culture, along with his usual emotional.. Subtlety, to put it kindly. 

He cleared his throat, looking awkwardly to one side. “I. I do, yes. Not that, um, not that I’ve ever acted upon that.” Sol, it didn’t help that the Drifter’s very pointed look reminded him of Quincy’s. That piercing stare that always felt like a rifle was trained on him–

“Then why haven’t you ever told Quincy how you feel about him?” 

And there’s the bullet to go with it.

“What. The hell are you talking about.” Arthur shot back, glaring at the Drifter. He was feeling cornered, now. “Quincy’s my mate. My brother-at-arms. No more, no less.” Very lying, and doing a poor job of hiding it given how defensive he just got all of a sudden, ”Where the hell are you getting that I think any more than that of him.”

The Drifter narrowed their eyes at him. Okay, probably going to get punched, but here we go, “Oh, I dunno, Arthur, the haunted look in your eyes when we patrol past his grave?” Just calling it that, now, Arthur knew what they were talking about, “Not to mention the look you give him when you’re drunk as hell and that brick wall you put up in front of yourself falls down.. Or the way your eyes glitter in the light when he laughs.. The way you perk up when you see him walk into the bar with us. Lots of looks, given that you don’t talk.” 

Ouch. Arthur winced at each one of those points, “Marty. Stop–”

Sorry, Arthur but no, “That little shot of worry you get when he goes flying across the rooftops ahead of us and out of our sight.”

Arthur huffed. “Eleanor should slap you for using what you’ve heard in my head against me–”

The Drifter's eyebrows raised, eyes widening. Oh, Arthur, you just admitted that they're right and you don’t even realize, “Buddy. I never said I felt that in your head. I’d never use what I feel in there against you. It’s clear enough from your expression on the ground.”

Arthur’s mouth snapped shut. Shit. They didn’t say they felt that in transference, did they. Fuck–

The Drifter snapped their fingers and pointed at Arthur, as another memory came to mind, “Ah, another I just remembered– Couple months back we were talking about something or another with Lettie and we saw your eyeline wander to him taking some very handsome guy up to his bunk. You let out the saddest sigh and, evidently, couldn't tell that either of us noticed you do that.”

“I– Lettie noticed that?” Oh, gods, Arthur, you know that brick wall Drifter mentioned a moment ago? They hit it with a bomb, and there’s no way you have time to reconstruct it before you say something else dangerous.

The Drifter nodded. “She did, yes. Hard not to. The moment you left I turned to her and asked if she noticed that and she said ‘oh, good, I’m not going insane’.”

“Fucking hell..” Arthur looked away, eyes flicking back and forth as he went over anything else any of the protoframes might have noticed in his head. Oh gods, certainly Eleanor knew, as a start, and apparently Lettie as well..

The Drifter gave him a moment to stew in that and then twisted the knife, “You’re not as mysterious and subtle as you think you are, Arthur. I don’t have to be in your head to see any of this. So, I repeat, why have you never told him you have feelings for him?”

Arthur finally snapped, “Because there is no way in hell he feels the same! Alright?! Is that what you wanted to fucking hear?” He could run at any moment, but he was about to cry and any way out of here led back into the mall and fuck he has no idea where Quincy is still– “There is no gods-damned way he could feel the same for me. You know why, better than me I'm sure, so I have no clue why you'd even ask other than to torture me. You’re his fucking best friend. I’m not.”

Oh, Arthur..

“And even though he says he’s forgiven me for all that happened between us before.. This, I still took everything from him, I still landed him here. He’s here because of me, and I know that. He has to blame me for that, somewhere deep inside, I know it.”

Void, that hit a bit too close to home for the Drifter.. On several levels.

“Even.” Arthur did start crying now, ”Even if he did, I’d cock it up in some way or another like I did with Aoi and Sol thinking of looking at him after that is worse than the looks her and I exchange sometimes.. So, yes, Drifter, I have feelings for Quincy. And best fucking case I’ll ruin it someday, worst case he laughs at me and I’ll be a mockery around here because I got desperate and tried to hit on my old war buddy. There. Happy now?” He glared at the Drifter through tears, breathing hard as he tried to fight off sobs and waiting for whatever the fuck their response would be to all of that.

No, they weren’t happy to hear that, but they had been expecting.. Most of what Arthur just said, honestly. “How are you certain he doesn’t, that he couldn’t ever feel that about you?” The Drifter said, face and voice finally softening, as empathetic tears started to well up in their eyes.

Gods, they're still going.. Arthur let out a huff of a sigh towards the ceiling, as if pleading to some god or another to make this stop, “Look at me. “ Arthur gestured to himself. ”Look at him. I’m aware, believe it or not, that I’m really sodding difficult to interact with on the best of days, and Quincy’s seen me on my worst of days, so he knows just how awful I can be. Beyond that, I know he likes.. Fun folk, and I’m aware from the number of times he’s called me this how much of a buzzkill I am.”

Drifter was fairly certain at least one of those times was Quincy trying to distract from his own emotions by being deliberately abrasive, but, “Arthur. Arthur he flirted with me, when I was the wreck that I was on our first go around. I was. Not a fun person to be around back then, you know that.” They were fun at their best of times, but also the Drifter was as self hating as Arthur was, so they couldn’t see that even now with a few years of hindsight. “I was gloomier than the damn void,   I dumped out a load of trauma on you all at one moment and isolated myself the next. Got into a good few spats with him of my own. And through all that, he only stopped flirting with me because I called it off.”

Arthur actually. Did not know that Quincy flirted with them to any serious degree, or that they're the one that called it off- “That– You’re different.” 

Drifter squinted, making an exasperated expression that just said 'seriously, Arthur?', “Am I? Was I? Let me be. Very self-aware for a moment and compare us. Fresh war veteran with the weight of some very complicated decisions on my shoulders. Took care of myself last and everyone else first,” They still did that, though they wouldn’t admit it, “And notably, Quincy had to talk me out of denying myself happiness because it would be complicated. Quincy and Aoi at that. They weren’t the precise reason why I confessed to Amir when I did, but they sure did light a fire under my ass about it.”

Arthur was. Very much running out of ways to parry the Drifter’s arguments here and he did not like that.  He fell silent, tense shoulders dropping in defeat as his mind really did start turning over the concept of voicing any of his feelings towards Quincy..

“I’m not saying you need to go out there, find him and tell him everything you feel right now– Sweet Void, don’t do that, actually, on the off chance you were thinking of it. Just.” Drifter just now realized how ridiculous and volatile it was that they had these two conversations literally back to back, “Give him a bit, at the very least. Give yourself a bit to really think on it. I know me and Amir were very different than you are, but I know what it’s like, thinking ‘there’s the love of my life, right before my eyes, and I can never have him’ and resigning yourself to that because you're afraid of fucking up a friendship. Stop trying to be fucking heroic about this, you're hurting both of you doing that.”

Oh, Sol they're sounding like Eleanor. Arthur snapped at them again, “You are far too close to my sister for my own good, you know that, Marty?”

Oh Arthur, you have no idea, Drifter thought; feeling the sting of those teeth marks in their shoulder, especially with how tight their neck muscles had become over the course of this conversation, “Maybe I am, but am I wrong, Arthur?” They reached out, finally placing a firm, comforting hand on Arthur’s shoulder. Didn’t get immediately shoved away, so, onward we go, ”Please. Just.. For your own sake, A, and more importantly his sake, think about it. Leaving yourself wondering will eat you alive, and I’m not necessarily talking about our grinning cosmic horror ‘friend’ out there for once. Just. Sit on it, then do something about it . If there’s one thing I can promise you, the absolute worst he can say is no.” They spoke with confidence. Maybe someone else he’d laugh at, but Arthur? No. ”I am his best friend. He wouldn’t laugh at you. Maybe be taken aback, but worst he’d say is no.”

Gods, Arthur wanted to believe that. 

“I’ll leave you now. I won’t push you further, but.. If you want to talk it over more, just come find me, alright?” The Drifter patted Arthur on the shoulder a smidge awkwardly, then turned and walked off, leaving Arthur alone to drown in all of those thoughts on his own.

Drifter just hoped that they wouldn’t find him drunk off his ass over this, that’s all they could hope for at this point.

..Him or Quincy, actually. Maybe they should warn Velimir in case either or both of them wander in later tonight..

Chapter Text

Later that night, Quincy found himself walking towards the backroom. After some time to himself, there was no Sol-damned way he could just let this sit and fester for any longer. As much as he was dreading it, he had to at least talk his feelings about Drifter over, let alone anything related to Arthur they’d dragged up like a cat leaving a dead rat in his bed, or there was no way he’d get even a lick of sleep tonight.

Entering that creepy door, he was expecting to see the Drifter at their work table, some gloomy rock music blaring with a gun stripped down in front of them being turned over and experimented with just as they had with his damn brain earlier, but no. Some kind of beep-y computer game soundtrack was playing, and the only person in the whole room was Amir, speeding around the room putting his kit on like he was getting ready to go for a run somewhere.

Amir came to a halt the moment he noticed Quincy, looking a bit shocked– Quincy was always so damn quiet walking into a room, after all– but that shock turned to a bit of concern, noting his friend’s troubled expression. “Oh, hey Quincy! D’You need something? Uh, as long as it’s quick, that is, I need to get going with Elle in a couple minutes. Techrot outbreak.”

So he’ll be out for a bit, and Flare’s still mid-set down in the bar.. “Was looking for space trauma, you know where they are?”

“Uh, yeah! You just missed them, they just left a couple of minutes ago, think they were headed to talk with Aoi about something?” Amir said, giving his Amprex a once over before pulling it over his shoulder. And instead of heading right back out to find them, Quincy’s just.. Standing there spacing out. Very much not like him. “Is.. Is everything okay, man? You look kinda.. Off.”

“..Maybe a weird question; are you really okay with Drifter kissing around all their mates?” Quincy said, focusing his gaze over on Amir. He looked surprised, but not to a degree that Quincy would think he didn’t know that Drifter had been getting intimate with more than him and Flare, so that’s good.. Not that Quincy truly thought Drifter would, but he was on edge in several ways after that conversation earlier.

“Ah. Yeah, uh. Heh.” Amir bashfully stammered. That was a weird question out of nowhere, yes. Amir wasn’t uncomfortable with the question or the concept necessarily, just, very caught off guard there. Lots of that going around tonight. He started rambling, “Yeah, I’m fine with it. Can’t say I really get it myself? But I know how much they love me, really know how much they love me..” He eyed a blue leather collar sitting on the table nearby that thankfully was out of Quincy’s current sightline, “And how much they love Flare and Liz.. And that their, um. Feelings about love and stuff like that is different and kinda weird? Not in a bad way, though? And kind of. Sort of. Learned from like, storybooks and raunchy novels from the future, not that I’m judging or anything I mean I’ve definitely had them act out some fantasy stuff of my own–” Locked eyes back with Quincy’s for a moment, who despite his apparently gloomy mood started smirking at that, ”Too much information. I trust them, is what I’m getting at. Why–” 

A little bullet point list started forming in Amir’s mind. 

1. Quincy’s looking for the Drifter. 

2. Amir knows that Drifter has been with their other two best friends intimately on a couple of occasions. 

3. Quincy’s asking about this, with a troubled look on his face and a tone like he’s worried you’re not okay with Future kissing around. Oh. Oh. 

“Ohthat’swhyyou’relookingforthem.” Amir’s eyes went wide behind his lenses. He cleared his throat and very quickly picked up the rest of his weapons, ”Um. Funny thing, Elle just told me over my earpiece that we’re going to need to clear out a few more blocks than we thought, oh shucks, we’ll just have to be out for like an hour longer than we thought or something, oh no, okaybye–” 

As Amir kicked into high gear and tried to rush past, Quincy managed to catch him by the shoulder. Been around him and his powers long enough to get the timing down. “Not saying it’s assured we’re going to do something, but seriously, Amir; you’d be fine with them and I fooling around?”

Awkward as hell for Amir personally, but, “Y-yeah. I’d rather not uh. Walk in on you two doing anything but it’s not like it grosses me out, either? It’s. Complicated.”

Can say that again. Several times over.

“But, yeah, you’ve got my.. Blessing, I guess?” Amir gave Quincy a little smirk. “Go get ‘em, ya charmer.” Amir glanced down at the hand currently holding him very firmly in place, ”..Seriously though let me go I do actually have a techrot hive to take care of–” Quincy’s grip released and Amir’s awkward smile turned into a big, sunny grin as he gave Quincy a friendly slap on the shoulder, “Have fun, don’t break ‘em too hard–” Actually, thinking about it– ”Actually if you manage to break them when Flare and me and definitely Lizzie, oh Lua, haven’t that’d be kind of amazing– Too. Much. Information. Bye!” He sped off again, leaving Quincy in the backroom.

Well. At least he’s confirmed that Amir doesn’t mind, and in that case he also trusted Drifter that Flare didn’t, either.. 

Quincy glanced around the backroom, turning the Drifter over in his head one last time before heading out. They had really made this space into theirs, now. Shot through with them and those they loved.. Posters plastered everywhere from Amir’s games and movies, and Flare’s concerts.. Some arcade games dragged back here, audio kit for Flare to practice, and of course the Drifter’s toolkit. 

In another life, another branch of eternalism, Quincy– that spot over there would be great to set up a book shelf. Spoil that time traveler with racks of clothes that make them shine like a damn diamond. Shutter in a bit of that dark space under the loft where Flare has their kit for a darkroom–

Stop it. Stop thinking about it. That’s not fair to them, that’s not fair to either of their partners, either.

Quincy blinked back tears and turned around to leave. That’s not happening, Quincy, and you’re pretty sure you’re fine with that. Just.. Have to find some closure on that point, first. Drifter’s usually as good at patching wounds as they are making them, just have to fucking find them.

Thankfully for Quincy, he truly did just miss them. The two of them practically ran right into one another as the Drifter was on their way back to their room, and Quincy was walking away from it. They locked eyes across the dim corridor; tension in the air thick enough to cut with a knife the moment they acknowledged one another.

The Drifter looked like they were trying to be just as slippery as their wife back there was, so before they could step past, Quincy laid a firm hand on their shoulder just as he had to Amir. “Drifter.”

“Quincy.” The Drifter braced themself to be decked across the face right there in the middle of the hallway, honestly, from the determined look on Quincy’s face and the grip he had on their shoulder. “..What is it–”

“I can’t just. Let all that shit you said earlier sit.” Quincy cut in, hoping beyond anything that the Drifter didn’t notice that he had definitely been crying at some point. ”Won’t be able to look at you right until we just. Fucking.. Work this out, D. Follow me?” He let go of them, waiting to see if they would fall in line and follow him, or zip off as they had originally intended.

As perceptive as they were, the Drifter couldn’t quite tell what Quincy was referring to, by his tone, by his words, by his expression. “..Alright. Lead the way?”

On the darkened upper balcony of the mall, Arthur was doing his damndest to keep his mind on work– going over Lettie’s current round of supply woes, trying to predict what they might need to overstock given information they had from previous loops. He went completely quiet and Lettie’s voice faded into the background of his mind as his good eye caught the Drifter in the distance. Following Quincy to his bunk, staring up at the sniper with a soft expression Arthur associated with them looking at Amir or Flare..

Now. Those two were best friends. He knew that, logically. He’d seen them in there plenty of times before for perfectly innocent reasons, talking photography or going over their little book club that had been made by Drifter bringing back science texts from the future for the pair of them to ponder over together, but. The timing of this all, with that thunderstorm Drifter had spun up in his head earlier.. Drifter, are you making a move on Quincy hours after you did that to him?

Certainly not.. Right?

Quincy shut and locked the door behind the Drifter as soon as the two stepped into his space. 

The Drifter turned around, crossing their arms. They let out a sigh, “Quincy.. I’m.. I’m sorry I brought any of that up, if you wanna punch me, punch me. I probably deserve it.” Given even a couple of hours of hindsight, they definitely had pushed both him and Arthur a bit too far, but they had hoped to have a bit more time to let that settle to formulate an apology to either–

“Don’t be. I. I do want to punch you, yeah,” Quincy briefly smirked, “But I’m not gonna. I.. Fuck. I need to talk about this with you, or it’s just gonna keep eating me up and it’s.. Not fuckin’ fair to you, either, just sittin’ in this.”

Not fair to. Them? “Quincy.. What are you–”

“I.. I still have feelings for you, D.”

Oh. Oh no. 

Oh Sol their face is going on a whole journey about that.. Quincy let out a deep sigh and sat down on the edge of his bed. “You’ve been there for me in ways not a lot of folk have been. You made me see there’s.. Purpose, here. Life here. Even with everythin’ restarting every year, that it’s still worth it, goin’ out there, fighting for people, doing what I can to make their lives.. Just a little bit better. I’ve. Told you all this before, I know that.” He focused his gaze on his hands, unable to maintain eye contact with the stock-silent Drifter staring him down.

"I'd go down swinging with you, for you, a thousand thousand times, and I hope you know that. And.. I trust, even if we all.. Start. Gettin’ worse, someday, that you’ll treat us all right. As much as that idea still sends creepy-crawlies down my damn spine, I know you wouldn’t treat me like.. Like a tool. Seen it when you walk around in that other Cyte-09. How you keep him all shined up and decked out.. Like he’s me.” He let out a dark chuckle before continuing, “You can get a little.. Reckless out on the field, but I know you well enough by now to know that’s you being you, not treatin’ your hollow friends like they’re disposable.”

“I.. Yeah. I’m sorry about that, if it ever.. Unnerves you, seeing me get hurt in something that.. Looks like any of you.” The Drifter smiled sadly, remembering a couple times, earlier on, catching the haunted way Quincy looked at them after they made some stupid move in their frame and got Volt, or Mag, or Nyx, or Cyte-09 fucked up in the process. Especially now with the context of Quincy’s ‘toy soldier’.. Calling it a complex feels mean. Toy soldier.. Thing.

“Still fuckin’ unnerves me, not gonna lie. But.. I know you treat ‘em well when you take ‘em back into your lil’ mad scientist lab.” Quincy looked up at the Drifter, who had started to creep over across the room closer to him. “I.. Fuck.” Quincy took a deep breath, and ripped off the bandage. ”I love you, Drifter. But I know.. You’re not into me like that. I respect that. But.. Can’t lie that sometimes I think about.. What we could’ve been.” Mind going back to a bit ago, mentally carving his own space out in the backroom where their actual partners were.. Or alongside them, somehow. “But. I do want to let you know that you don’t need to.. Fix that. Don’t need to push me off so you don’t whip up all the thoughts in my head again.. Or try and get in my head in one way or another, take me apart and stitch me back up. Which I know you would. Don’t try and tell me you wouldn’t.”

Drifter. Couldn’t deny that, given their track record tonight alone..

Quincy sighed. “I’ll handle it. I wasn’t lying earlier, I am exceedingly happy seein’ you around with that freaky rockstar, or that hyperactive pup. They deserve that. So do you. More than you’ll ever admit.” Quincy said with a very pointed look at them. Yeah, D. Reminder that he is good at taking you apart too. In speaking of which, “I understand if that means you wanna rescind that offer you made earlier, to make us a bit more.. Physical.” He glanced back at the bed he was sitting on for a moment. “But I promise that if you do still wanna have a bit of fun that it won’t tie my head up in any more knots than it’s already in, at the very fuckin’ least.. If anything, maybe the attention’ll help?” He gave a half grin, then finally went quiet to let the Drifter process and respond.

“I..” The Drifter sat down on the bed by Quincy with a sigh, like they’d sat down with so much force the air got knocked out of them. They had their hands to each side, their right just barely grazing the edge of one of Quincy’s. “I do, if you’ll have me still. Like I said earlier, I do.. I do love you. I know it’s different, but–”

“Y’don’t have to repeat yourself, D. I know.” Quincy put his hand over the Drifter’s, lacing their fingers together. “So.. What do you say, space trauma? Wanna do something else reckless tonight?” He leaned forward a bit to get a better look at their face. They’re thinking about it.. Can see those little cogs turning around behind the void swirls in their eyes.

..There’s no way Arthur knows where you are right now, right Drifter? No clue where he went after that talk earlier, but. “..Even after all I said about.”

“What, me and heroboy?” Quincy rolled his eyes. “We’ll talk about that. Later. That I..” Fuck, this is admitting they were onto something, but, “That point I do need to simmer on for a bit. With a bit of’a clearer head.”

Oh, you were right. Maybe? Putting that down for now.. 

Ugh. Fuck it. 

If Arthur knows where you are he probably already thinks this is what’s happening and after that showing earlier it'll be hard to convince him it didn't. 

“Alright..” The Drifter shifted towards the grasp their hand and Quincy’s were in to drag it up to their face and lay a kiss across their best friend’s knuckles. “How do you want me, soldier?” They gave Quincy a soft, sultry smile. “Surely you’ve thought of me before.”

“Heh. You’re not wrong, D..” Plenty of times he’d been with someone else cute, with roughly the same build as them, imagined even for a moment he was atop Drifter instead of his fling.. Or just by himself in here, thinking about every hint of skin they’d ever shown. “What are you in the mood for? I’m pretty sure I know what kit you’re working with down there, given some very fun things you’ve had me source before.” He chuckled.

“Ah. Yeah..” The Drifter’s cheeks started to flush, remembering some very embarrassing requests they’d made to Quincy in return for helping him fill some civilians’ wants. 

Quincy pulled his hand back from the Drifter’s grasp and placed it on their darkening cheek. Sol, Quincy, they’re just so gods-damned pretty. “Also you’re gonna need to tell me anywhere I shouldn’t touch. I know you’ve had some work done,” His eyes flicked to the surgery scars on their chest, just barely visible through their mesh shirt.. “But I understand if you don’t wanna be touched there.”

“I–” Hm. That opened some lingering questions Drifter had been sitting on for a while. They gently pressed their cheek into Quincy’s grasp as they pondered, “I was under the impression people like me were.. Are.. Pretty rare in this point in time, how many have you been with? What you just said sounded like it was from some experience, and I did note how.. Cool you all were with me, right off the jump. From what Flare’s said, that's pretty rare. Not that I’m complaining in the least bit–”

Quincy laughed. “‘Cause they’ve got some experience, everyone but Amir anyway. First off, you know about Eleanor,”

Oh, he does know about her? “Yeah, fair, that explains Arthur especially– Wait, what do you mean ‘first off’? Also ‘everyone but Amir’?” That would imply something pre-Helminth, and they were fairly certain Amir also knew Eleanor had transitioned, also ‘First off’ implies there’s someone else they were unaware of–

“You want me to tell you, or you wanna go searching, Doctor Frankenstein?” Quincy said with a playful grin, removing his hand from the Drifter’s cheek and leaning back a bit, inviting Drifter to come and try taking his gear off if they wanted.

Wait. Things clicking into place– “Quincy, you?” The Drifter said, dumbfounded, especially as Quincy nodded proudly in confirmation. “..How has that not come up in the past, given..?” They gestured to themself and their general genderqueerness. 

Quincy shrugged casually. “Didn’t much matter? ‘Specially since after Entrati's shot I look just like any other bloke, so.. Never thought to mention it. A rare silver lining to the whole.. Mutant cyborg thing.” He gestured at his body, ”..Arthur was kind to me back in the day prolly ‘cause of Eleanor, treated me like I was any other brother of ours in the Watch though I didn’t much look or sound it– I’d appreciate if you didn’t look too closely at old photos, relatedly.” His eyes flicked up to a corkboard covered in photographs he had nearby, some of which were of the old days, in which his facial features were notably softer if you compared them to Quincy post-serum.

..Wouldn’t be the first time the Helminth was oddly. Gender affirming. So that didn't come out of nowhere, but wow. “I– Of course. I'd never.” 

“So.. Who’s field stripping who here, D?” Quincy refocused the conversation, raising an eyebrow at the currently stunned Drifter. “One of us has to choose somethin’ or we’re both just gonna be sitting here talking about it until the clocks spin back.” He chuckled. Oh, Drifter, please don’t realize he just referenced the version of that damn song you sang earlier.. 

Drifter did note that, but didn’t comment on it, “..You’re the one that helped me figure out how I wanted to dress..” They removed their spiked boots, then their flannel overshirt, leaving both on the floor.  ”Want to figure out how it comes off?” They grinned up at Quincy, pulling themself up further onto the bed.

Simple thing that had been dragged up from the furniture shop Eleanor hung out in; nothing too fancy, but it was certainly comfortable, if obvious that it had gotten worn down faster than it should have by being slept on by someone made mostly of infested steel.

“Thought you’d never ask..” Quincy said softly, very pleased with the Drifter’s choice. He took his beret off and hung it up on a pin nearby, then got up on top of the Drifter, ”You never answered– I’m good to touch wherever?” He raised an eyebrow as he slipped one of his prosthetic hands under the Drifter’s mesh undershirt, running his metal fingers up their side.

The Drifter pleasantly shivered at the touch, letting out a soft gasp. Both at how sensitive their ribs were, and the fact that Quincy’s fingers were quite cold at the moment. “Mmh.. Yeah, I don’t mind anywhere. In fact, please do touch my chest if you want to it’s– Aah–” Didn’t even have to invite him, the moment he got the okay, he pushed his hand up further and immediately started giving one of their nipples attention with his thumb. 

“No wonder you hide under all that armor, Drifter, you’re real sensitive, aren’t you? Even with all these scars..” Quincy admired his best friend as he pulled their shirt up, not off, just resting over the top of their pecs and under their armpits. 

“Heh.. Yeah..” Drifter relaxed back, letting their eyes gently shut as they felt Quincy running his fingers over some of those Duviri-borne marks, as well as the ones from their top surgery. “I didn’t.. Expect this from you, honestly.”

Quincy scoffed. “What, didn’t think I could be gentle?”

“No– I really did think I was gonna get punched. Wouldn’t blame you for shifting gears and doing that instead.”

Gods they really did sound like Arthur sometimes, which was not helping. Focus on them, Quincy. One set of unrequited, pining thoughts at a time. “You wanna take your hair down? Can’t be comfortable laying on those metal rings.”

Drifter smirked. “You just wanna see how bad you can fuck it up by the time we’re done, don’t you?” They obliged, reaching up to set their braid-waved hair loose while Quincy’s hands kept admiring their chest, starting to wander down to their hips..

“Can’t deny that one, no.. That makeup of yours is gonna be fun too, ‘specially if you’re as teary in bed as you are anywhere else.” Quincy looked up to admire just how handsome the Drifter looked with the long, gradient-dyed section of their hair pulled forward and covering one of their eyes a bit. Emo banshee for real, given their tendency to turn into an actual ghost, or whatever quantum physics bullshit they pulled going into transference.

“I am.. Gonna have to prove your reputation to me to earn that, though.” The Drifter teased, resting their arms above their head. 

Quincy gave the Drifter that signature cocky smile of his. “Oh, I’ll prove it– gonna make damn certain this won’t be my only time with you under my hands like this, D.”

Their back arched a bit whenever Quincy ran his hands back up their ribs.. He wasn’t hesitating for a moment in doing any of this– Drifter wondered if this is how he treated anyone under his hands, or if he was acting out something he’d wanted to do to them for a while.. 

Still turning over what he said earlier in their head. They weren’t unsure of doing this, but.. They had no idea that he still had feelings for them quite that deeply. It sounded like he was holding some of what he wanted to say back, too.. Maybe something he didn’t want to say that would come off mean towards Amir or Flare. They did believe him when he said he was happy for them, otherwise why offer the wingman support in the first place, but there was a lingering, sad little glimmer in his eyes.. They really hoped that doing this would be more helpful than harmful to him.

Quincy slid his fingers down from their sternum all the way down to a happy trail of little dark curly hairs, leading him beneath their belt. For as much as he wanted just to rip all this right off them with how badly he had wanted this, respect their damn clothes, Quincy. These are their favorites and you know how good they look in them. Time to see how good they look on the floor instead..

Drifter quietly helped Quincy by moving their hips as he unhooked their belt, unzipped their jeans and started pulling them down. They were expecting him to pull them off all the way and leave them naked or just in their boxers, but instead as soon as the mildly constricting denim was off their hips, he maneuvered his hand to slide the only slightly body heat-warmed metal right down between their thighs.

“Holy shit–” Drifter cried out in surprise, eyes widening as Quincy slid two fingers in between their lower lips, one on either side of their clit, which had started to come to attention from Quincy’s foreplay thus far.

“Hmm.. I was right about your kit, eh? Too much too fast, Drifter?” Quincy said, smirking up at that pleasantly surprised face they were making. They make some fun sounds and you’ve barely gotten started yet. No wonder their partners are all over them.

Drifter shook their head. “N-No, you can keep going there, just surprised me.” They were already aware they liked metallic fingers on their clit from Amir, but Quincy’s were certainly different than his. A whole different flavor of dexterous.. 

“Good.. Sol, you’re soaked already. You get worked up easy?”

Drifter nodded. “Sometimes it takes me a while to actually get off, but I get turned on pretty fast these days.” They chuckled softly, squeezing their thighs around Quincy’s hand a bit as he kept running his fingers against the inner sides of their pussy lips, grazing their clit. “Mmh.. Mechanic’s curiosity– You can feel your hands? I thought they were prosthetics?”

“Yeah, I can, just the same as I could with flesh and blood. And they are. Didn’t used to be able to, techrot grabbed ‘em. They can come off, though I don’t have much control over ‘em when they are before you start getting any freaky ideas.” He looked up from their hips to shoot them a little pointed look at that comment, knowing even a bit of what they usually got up to in the bedroom from the marks that were leftover on their skin. ”Shooting you a question back– promise not to pry too much to your usual sex life– d’you even need any of the battery-powered fun I sourced for you with Amir’s hands at your disposal?” He said, half joking and half teasing.

The Drifter snickered between the soft sounds they were making from Quincy’s touch. “His hands do get tired sometimes, believe it or not. But yeah.. To be very honest, his fingers are better than any vibrator ever could be.” They said with a proud smile. “Mm.. In speaking of him and ah.. What you’re doing to me right now.” They grinded their hips up a bit as the tips of his fingers hit their clit. “You.. Never thought I’d bring this up again willingly– you remember that time you walked in on me and Amir–”

“What, him finger fucking you against one of his godsdamned arcade cabinets?” Quincy said, maintaining that slightly judgemental gaze on the Drifter’s face. Still couldn’t believe they got Amir to do that out in the open. That’s what he assumed happened there, anyway, that it’s them that convinced him to do something in public.

The Drifter looked away towards the ceiling, suddenly feeling bashful with Quincy’s eyes focused on them like that. “Hah. With. Us. Fantasizing about Flare, yes. That’s.. Not the point, um.. I didn’t want to admit this to myself or Amir at the time but uh. I definitely came from you yelling at us, which. I’m not sure what that says about me.”

..Quincy was very surprised, now, that he or anyone else hadn’t run into them fucking Amir or Flare in public after that, if that was true. Unless they never got caught, or the one that did didn’t tell.. Because that sounded like Drifter had even the slightest dormant tinge of an exhibitionist or something of the like. Which. Would explain the walking around proudly with hickeys and bite marks thing, honestly.

“Sol’s tits, Drifter, you’re a fuckin’ slut, you know that?” Quincy laughed, giving the Drifter’s now thoroughly swollen dick– or clit, not sure just how masculine Drifter liked their terminology, honestly– a few final firm rubs between his fingers for emphasis on that point before pulling his hand free of their boxers.

The Drifter moaned, letting out a little whine as all the touching stopped. Just for now, hopefully? “Fair, yeah.. Takes one to know one, though?” 

“Mm. Touché. Got me there.” Quincy said, only proving that point by licking the lingering fluid from the Drifter’s crotch off of his fingers as he considered what he wanted to do next. First off, this is enough fun with their legs constricted like that, gotta get them laid out wide at some point.. He tugged their jeans and boxers off, leaving them on the floor on top of their flannel and boots and the Drifter naked aside from that fishnet around their arms and shoulders. That still looked pretty enough on them that it could stay, as well as the ring on a chain around their neck that everyone in the mall was aware of being them and Flare’s wedding band. Reminder, Quincy, they’re not yours. Just for tonight. 

The Drifter relaxed back onto Quincy’s pillows, spreading their legs out casually. Revealing all the bruises and a couple of bite marks on their inner thighs, to match that one on their neck. At least one looked like it came from whatever Eleanor did to them, but the rest were from.. Given the Drifter’s own fast healing, at least a half a day or so before? 

“You like pain, Drifter? Can’t say I’m usually one to put that on offer, hope that won’t be a problem..” Quincy said, gently touching his fingers against a greenish blue bruise. The soft groan that pulled from them said yes, yes they did. Shame they and Lettie didn’t get along enough to do this. 

“I do like it, yes.. Not enough that I need it to get off, though. Mmh.. You might offer it anyway depending on how hard you want to rail me, though, I have gotten fond of feeling swordsteel thighs against my ass– That is, if you’re going to fuck me like that?” Right, Quincy’s like you, Drifter, so is that even technically on offer, unless he’s got a harness like the one you made for you and Flare’s hips?

“I can if you want, that was my goal here. On that note, only fair..” Quincy started pulling all his gear off– Leaving his walkie-talkie nearby just in case something happened, had enough sense left in him to recognize that was important. ”Just sit back and watch the show, you look far too pretty lookin’ up at me like that for me to make you do this. Touch yourself if you wanna, would hate for you to go cold just because my hands are occupied.” 

“Alright.. I’m certainly not complaining.” The Drifter nestled their head in a bit, watching curiously as Quincy stripped himself down. That curiosity was more scientific than anything, but they did let their fingers wander– One hand feeling up their own chest while the other explored around all of the swollen outer areas of their pussy that Quincy had been touching.

Of course the straps, his scarf and that section of coat that was pinned to his breastplate came off, expected that, given their experience stripping Amir, but how much else could, if he wanted to remove it? Technically the both of them were still on call if anything went wrong out in the city, so how vulnerable was he going to get? Or how vulnerable could he get, without you getting weird and taking your tools to his plating, Drifter?

Not terribly so, and he couldn’t go too much farther without peeling parts off, but there were some sections that Quincy was leaving on in case they needed to pack up and go. This needed to be gone though to start the fun– He unclipped the long section of armor that hung between his thighs and set it nearby. “There. Not nearly as revealing as you can get, but I still look damn good for a toaster oven, eh?”

The Drifter chuckled. “Sure do. So, um, do you have a lineup of your own you’re gonna pick from or– Oh.” Their eyes widened as Quincy used his fingers to open up a bit of panelling between his legs, which revealed what used to be his own pussy, from inside which slid out a dripping, twitching almost tentacle of a cock that looked very, very excited to be let free.

“Phew. You really have me worked up just from lookin’ at you, D..” Quincy said in a bit of awe, regarding himself. “Like I said; one silver lining of all this mutant BS. And yes, even average folk have taken a likin’ to him.”

Really should have expected that after they’d seen what Helminth did to Flare, but that was still a surprise. Damn. Good for Quincy. “Usually you’re one of the more anti-techrot ones– Well, we all are but–”

“Some of us are more alright with the freakier sides of us than others.” Quincy finished their thought, “Which you seem to like, given your enthusiasm for that symbiotic rockstar..” He shifted himself between the Drifter’s legs, “Meaning I know you want this bad, don’t you?” 

The Drifter nodded, biting on the inside of their lip as yes, they were regarding the size and shape of him with their eyes. Smooth and thick transitioning to a gently tapered tip that was currently dripping with excitement, with glowing veins you could see through the skin.. Not quite as dramatic about the techrot.. Aesthetic as they were used to, but certainly still looked fun. They slipped a pair of fingers into themself and started scissoring themself open a bit in preparation, watching as Quincy reached into a drawer nearby and pulled out a box of condoms– Oh, right, forgot to mention something important– “Oh– You can slide right in, I don’t mind,” At Quincy’s very quizzical and concerned look, they slipped their fingers out from themself and tapped the little silvery lines on either sides of their hips. “I’m very immune to the techrot as you know, and I can’t get pregnant, if. You think you can do that.”

“I’ve.. Honestly got no clue and no real want to find out– you’re serious, though? Your tubes are tied?” Quincy said, regarding those scars on their hips. Was so focused on fingering them that he didn’t see those ones.

Drifter nodded proudly. “Totally removed, actually. And– For societal reasons I’m not going to go into right now, I trust Corpus doctors to know what they’re doing when it comes to anything relating to fertility. Besides, I might have been infertile anyway? The Void has a consistently weird thing about parents and children and I was there for a while during some very formative years. Um. Anyway. Please?” They said, spreading their legs a bit wider to invite Quincy in.

Leave it to the Drifter to go into theories on the Void while actively having sex with someone.. That’s part of what he liked about them, honestly. Could probably have a deep conversation about science or philosophy or whatever else with them with you buried all the way to the hilt inside them. Kind of made him understand what Drifter saw in Amir, though Quincy in no way saw him like this.

“...Sol, you’re a freak, Drifter, you know that?” Quincy laughed, obliging in putting that box away where it belonged and taking one of Drifter’s legs in each of his hands, keeping a firm hold on the backs of their thighs. 

The Drifter sighed happily as Quincy started rubbing himself up against them, running the length of himself where his fingers had been. “But you love me for it!” They grinned. “..Platonically?” They said to confirm, checking in on how he was feeling about that topic as he started to gently push his way inside– Oh, void. He’s not quite as thick as Amir’s, at least at Amir’s thickest, but that didn’t matter, he still felt lovely. Oh and it is a bit of a tentacle, wonder how much control he has over that, because it’s curving right for their g-spot.. 

“Platonically.” Quincy said as a pleasured sigh, eyes fluttering closed for a moment as he put all his focus on how fucking good it felt finally being inside them. That answer was. Almost a lie. But fake it until you make it, right? 

Drifter moaned, gripping onto Quincy’s sheets to brace themself as Quincy started to thrust into them. “Fuck– Quincy– Oh, Void..”

That was one of his wildest dreams, honestly; hearing them cry out his name.. 

“Is there– Ah– A reason you haven’t kissed me yet, by the way?” The Drifter peeked up through their eyelashes, as their eyes were fluttering open and shut with just about every thrust. Between the dripping fluid that came off of him and their own wetness, he just slid right in as deep as he could with zero resistance.. Void, Quincy really wanted you, didn’t he, Drifter.. Or maybe you’re just used to how gently Amir starts, or how much of a tease Flare is.. Or Aoi and Eleanor respectively to those previous points.

Was that on the table? “Mmh.. Fuck..” Quincy moaned through gritted teeth. He was aware being loud in his bunk was a bad idea, though he didn’t have the context as to why that was a bad idea tonight in particular like the Drifter did. Didn’t stop them from not stifling themself so far, though– “Didn’t know if that was too– Fuck, Drifter, no wonder everyone’s all over you, how the fuck did I never ask you for this before– Didn’t know if that was too. Romantic. To you.”

Void, he did want you bad.. “I kiss Elle and Aoi.. As long as it’s not– Hhh, fuck Quincy are– Is that curve on purpose– As long as it’s not too romantic for you I’m fine.”

Quincy grinned. They noticed that, did they. “Yeah, that’s on purpose, babe.” Testing the waters with that, he thought– covering up to himself that said pet name just slid right out. He thought for a moment, looking down at those pretty dark painted lips of theirs, and the neck that everyone else they shared a bed with seemed to love so much. Fuck it, you’re in this far, Q. Literally. He let go of their legs and leaned in, pressing himself so they were chest-to-chest, and then he laid a kiss on their lips, stifling a moan that was about to escape them.

Their kiss was everything he’d ever hoped for. Soft, lightly chilly like those spooky powers of theirs, and exceedingly passionate, once they got themself into it. They wrapped their arms around his shoulders, and their legs around his waist, pulling him in as close as he could get without them fading into his damn skull.

After a few very long moments thrusting hard into them with their tongues in each other's mouths, Quincy pulled back, gasping for breath, but they hardly looked winded. Right. Drifter’s practically a ghost and can hold their breath for a while. There was no way you were going to win that, Quincy. Wouldn’t be surprised if they admitted they only breathe to look more normal, at this point.. 

Fuck, they were beautiful. Their lipstick had smeared from the kiss, and there’s those tears, just starting to well over across their cheeks, carrying some of their eye makeup with them, as Quincy started thrusting harder. Not hard enough to bruise anything probably? But enough that they’d certainly feel this in the morning, and hard enough that they finally shut up aside from gasping moans and Quincy’s name.

Every time they said it, it almost felt better than having his dick pounding them into his mattress like this. You feel so good, Quincy. Harder, Quincy, you won’t break me. I love you, Quincy. 

That last one was what made tears well over Quincy’s eyes, as he came deep inside them, face buried into their neck and breathing in the pure scent of them. Fuck, they were close too, weren’t they, from what they were saying– you’re usually great about that Quincy, holding on until the cutie under you’s gotten off first, but hearing I love you was just too much.. 

He pulled himself free and immediately went back to work– grabbing the Drifter by the thighs as he slid down and put his mouth to work at their clit. Can’t let them cool down, especially if they said sometimes it takes them a while. Don’t want to ruin this for them.

“Fuck– Holy shit, Quincy– What are you doing–”

Quincy kissed the inside of their thigh, continuing to work on their clit with a thumb as he responded, “Getting you off, what else?”

“Y-you don’t need to–” Right. This is Quincy, he probably thinks he owes you. Gonna scold him for that later, for now, Void, he’s good with his mouth, too.. It didn’t take long to work them back up to where they were right before Quincy came, and then drive them over into their own orgasm.

Quincy stayed down there for a bit longer, reveling in the taste of them and the feeling of their pussy pulsing softly against him– And the taste of himself, to be fair, leaking out of them.. As the rolling waves of the Drifter’s pleasure subsided, he pulled himself up, resting at their side. 

“Fuck.. Okay. Now I see why you have that reputation.” The Drifter let out a raspy laugh, brushing their hair out of their face. “I’m.. Not gonna stay the whole night, are you okay with that?” They turned to look Quincy in the eye, nestling themself into his arms. He was quiet ever since they came.. 

Quincy nodded. “I understand, not my first time lettin’ a catch go when they wanna wriggle free.” He smirked. That smirk faded quickly, though, as he regarded the Drifter cuddled up against him. Sol, their partners are so damn lucky.. “Would appreciate if you stayed for a bit, though..” His voice softened, reaching to gently hook a finger under their chin and nudge them up to kiss him. Much shorter than the first time. 

“Of course..” The Drifter smiled, settling themself in a bit further. “Something still on your mind, or are you just appreciating how pretty I look fucked out?”

Not used to hearing them with that gentle, dancing filter they usually had on their mouth taken off.. “Mm. bit of column a, bit of column b. Maybe.. A bit soon, given what we just did, but.. I.” What’s got you about to admit this, Quincy? Trying to cast away the last vestige of dreaming that you could spend every night like this with them? A last lingering buzz from your drinks earlier? Post-coital clarity? Whatever, this night’s fucked up enough already, might as well go straight to hell– “You were right.”

Drifter raised an eyebrow. “About..?”

“You. You fuckin’ know.” Quincy lightly glared at them. Not about to push them off, but seriously, Drifter, what the hell else would he be talking about? “About. Arthur. I do..” He let out a deep sigh. “I do.. Have. Feelings for him. There. I fucking said it. Don’t know why! But I fucking said it.” Gods, that got his blood pumping harder than it did to hear the Drifter moan that they loved him.. In a very different way, but still.

They at least didn’t look too self-satisfied about that. A bit, yes, but also like they were pondering something that worried them. “Even if he might be as much of a fuck up as I can be?”

Quincy snorted. “More like the other way around, you can be as much of a fuck up as he can be.. I can’t. Promise that or nothin’, but.. Yeah. He’s.. He’s different now. Even if he did cock something up and fumble me, I know.. I know he knows well enough to figure out some way to come crawlin’ back to me and make things better.”

“Even with everything that got you here technically being his fault?”

Very. Pointed questions here with their head all hazy.. Leave it to the Drifter to go into freaky void therapist mode directly after fucking you. Fucking weirdo. Affectionately. “..Yeah. Despite how screwed up this all is, I wouldn’t give it up for anything, now. I got myself here just as much as he got me here. No one forced me to follow him but me. But– None of this matters. There’s no way in hell he feels the same.”

“I wouldn’t.. Be quite so sure about that. Give him a chance, at least? Worst he can say is no. Then you know, and it’s not eating you up anymore.” The Drifter said with a soft smile. Not going to admit that they know for a fact that Arthur feels the same, that brings up the fact that directly after winding Quincy’s brain up, they went and did the same to him, then came and fucked Quincy anyway. That boot would drop eventually, for now, not going to ruin the moment.

Quincy focused his eyes in on the Drifter’s. What on earth has them so damn assured about that. They look like they know something, beyond all of the insight they gave on Arthur earlier, and they did not look that confident before.. “I’ll.. Consider it, D. For now.. Thanks. Seriously. I think..” He sighed. “I’m not gonna lie and say my head isn’t still tied up about you, but.. I do think that helped me work through this, somehow. And also, turning your comment back on you; I see how you got your reputation, Sol’s tits..”

The Drifter laughed. “Not as much of one as you have, but that’s because this is friends and lovers only.” They said, patting their crotch. “..Wait, you didn’t know I was with Elle and Aoi until earlier and I know Amir doesn’t talk about sex much with more than me and Flare– What reputation?”

“Two words: horny guitar.”

“Ah.” Drifter flushed, remembering just how explicit Lizzie got sometimes in public, no matter how much Flare tried to shush her. “Yeah that makes sense.. Um. I am willing to do this again sometime? With Arthur’s blessing of course, if that goes well.”

Still so damn confident it will.. 

Quincy nodded, pulling the Drifter in for another soft kiss. “Would love to, D.. Now. Let’s get you cleaned up and out of here before anyone comes lookin’ for you. Not ashamed of this in the least bit, but.. Given our talk, probably not the best look to have His Maj seein’ you skulking out half dressed with your hair all ruffled like this, as pretty as it is.”

Little did Quincy or Drifter know that Arthur was already aware this was happening. He didn’t hear anything, but that assumption he had made earlier was correct, and that was enough to send him into the Round Table to Velimir’s side. Velimir who already seemed hesitant about how much he was willing to give Arthur, despite the fact that he rarely ever stopped Arthur for anything. 

Sol, Drifter, did you ruin this for him, too.. Can’t have anything tonight, apparently. Not peace, not Quincy, not even the assurance that that polar bear of a spy will keep pouring drinks until you collapse. 

Chapter Text

Early in the morning– Or late that night, depending on who you were- Aoi was off on her own in the garage. Channeling her electric-charged best friend, she was heavily multitasking– she had an earpiece on listening in for if Amir or Eleanor (who truly did need to be out longer than originally thought) needed backup while putting the finishing touches on a tune-up job on her atomicycle, all while jamming out to On-Lyne. 

Convinced she was totally alone (not that she much cared if she was or not), she danced her way across the concrete and sang as she grabbed a tool from across the room with her powers; her voice echoed through the wide open space, starting out relatively soft but getting gradually louder as she got more and more into it, “Please stay, don’t put out the flame and run away. In this heartbreak, I’ll be here fighting for it– with or without you!” 

Arthur, only mildly buzzed thanks to Velimir’s out-of-character insistence that he go to bed and his heightened metabolism from the Helminth strain, could hear her from his bunk behind the security office. Had her on an echo, even, because she definitely forgot to mute her mic, and even in the state he was in at the moment, Arthur always kept a radio on back there in case he needed to snap out of what could charitably be called sleep to jump into action. 

Tonight he couldn’t even lie and say he was getting a nap, he was just laying there with his eyes closed begging for sleep to take him.. And listening to his ex/best friend enthusiastically singing sad pop music.

“Lie awake, with all the things I know that I should say.. I thought I could take more than I really can, with or without you..”

Sol, and she just had to be singing that song too; of the two On-Lyne songs that were permanently etched into Arthur’s mind by years of constant repetition, for once in his life he would have preferred the other one. Eleanor and Amir aren’t letting her know her mic’s hot either, Arthur could hear Amir giggling over the line at how cute she is..

“Baby, ‘til you come back with something, I know I’ll never let it go! I’m waiting but you come back with nothing–”

Arthur pried himself up off of the couch that was his bed and grabbed a hold of the mic end of his radio. “Aoi.. Aoi I can hear you.”

No response. She had her music on so loud that she couldn’t hear Arthur’s groggy, exhausted voice through her earpiece. Aoi that’s dangerous, if you really can’t hear me, you can’t hear anyone else either–

“This obsession has turned into the Great Despair! I keep thinking I see you and there’s nobody there..”

Arthur shuffled out of his room and into the garage. “Aoi!” He raised his voice, if only to be heard over the music,

She had her back turned, so didn’t see him walk in, “They say love is time, but all in love isn’t fair–”

“AOI! STOP.” Arthur yelled, which finally caught her attention, gave Eleanor a start as well through Aoi’s mic– could feel that from halfway across the city. 

Aoi grimaced, reaching over to press pause on her boombox. “Sorry! Didn’t know I was being that loud..” That sounded way more angry than just ‘Aoi woke me up with her boy band music again’ yelling.. 

Arthur immediately regretted yelling like that, between the spooked, concerned face Aoi was making at him and the twinge of worry from his sister. “I’m.. I’m sorry for yelling,” He sighed, looking away from Aoi, “Just. Try and turn it down a bit, please.”

Oh he looked rough, as soon as his nerves relaxed even a couple of degrees. Hadn’t seen him looking quite that busted up in a while, emotionally anyway. “Hey.. You alright, Arthur? Rough night?” Aoi frowned, crossing the garage to get within a few feet of Arthur. 

Oh you have no idea, Aoi.. “Trouble sleeping, as usual. Nothing you need to worry about.” As much as he would like to vent to someone about this, by his logic, his options were; 

1. Aoi, his ex. She was also one of his closest friends, and that had been the more important part of their relationship for a long time, but his emotions were far too raw to share with her without probably ending up blowing up about something he’d regret, 

2. Drifter, the person who caused this, and then evidently turned around and immediately did something to make it even worse for some Lua-damned reason, or 

3. Velimir, who was apparently in cahoots with person number 2.

…There was also his sister, but she was out on a techrot purge, which was far more important than this. And for as much as he trusted her nowadays to not go scraping around in his head, he was aware from her descriptions of her experiences that heightened emotions, especially his, were loud enough that she didn’t need to pry in further to hear too much for his liking.

So here he was, festering in thoughts about Quincy– how he could never have him, but apparently the Drifter could walk right in and take him– without even the ‘mercy’ of having his mind pickled in alcohol to take the edge off. 

Aoi’s still staring you down, Arthur. You standing there and not immediately returning to your room once she turned the music down clearly has her suspicious, and you’re not entirely certain if what you just said sounded convincing. She can see right through your bullshit and you know it. “You sure? I’m keeping an ear out for Amir and Eleanor, but I’m here if you need to talk..” She said softly, giving Arthur a little smile.

“I’m certain.. Thank you, though.” Arthur nodded and went back to his room, settling in to try and sleep again in relative silence. Nothing but you and your thoughts, now, Arthur.. Thoughts and blood pumping in your head.

He wasn’t sure how much longer he sat there sleeplessly, but he heard Aoi walking out of the garage fairly soon after he tucked back in, speaking to Amir and Eleanor over her earpiece about something he couldn’t quite make out through the door.

If you can’t sleep, can’t drink.. Maybe a bit of cold very early morning air will clear your head? Arthur got up again, picking up his guns and skana on the way as he skulked out of the security office and into the garage. 

He had just enough sense in his head to bring his radio with him in case of an emergency– darkly, he hoped there would be one. Some excuse to be out there that wouldn’t be suspicious..

Fumbling with his keychain a bit, Arthur’s ear pricked up at what was coming over his earpiece. Speak of the devil..

“Shit- Gimme a sec you two, I’ll be right back, hang in there– Something’s happening out east.” Aoi said, before going silent as she swapped frequencies.

Arthur silently followed suit, listening in on Aoi conferring with one of the east shelter’s guards. Scaldra had been seen stomping down towards them. Early morning ‘techrot purge’ of their own, shit.. With planes, too. Since when does Viktor send Stormfall for a false techrot purge in spring?! They must have lost their cover out there this go around, found out for being Hex sympathizers..

“Hold on, we’re on our way,” Aoi said with a serious tone, trying to hide a mild bit of panic that Arthur could hear plain as day, “Keep your heads down and seal all the doors and windows you can. We’ll be there soon.”

Arthur pondered who could go out at the moment. Amir and Eleanor were northwest and had been out for most of the night, so those two were out. Aoi was on comms, Lettie needed to be here to manage the Efervon burns coming in.. 

Sol, no, Aoi. Don’t send those two out alone, not tonight– He tuned back into the Hex’s main line to hear Aoi explaining the situation to Amir and Eleanor,

“-I’m gonna get Marty and Quincy out there, we shouldn’t need you but start heading back just in case; if there’s any left out there we can do some cleanup later today.”

Better do this before she catches on. Arthur got onto his atomicycle and switched it on, the tension of the moment clearing his mind– or so he told himself– just enough to snap into action. He revved it up and drove out, then spoke to his earpiece, “No need, I have it handled.”

Back in the mall, Aoi did hear an atomicycle starting up in the distance just before he said that. Crap, what was he doing?! “Arthur, no– get back here!” She turned and ran back to the garage– only to find him gone already, just a dot in the distance getting farther and farther away. 

Shit. He knows way too well that her first instinct would have been to shut his tommy down. Not only is he out of range now, but he’s going at speed, so if you did catch up it would be so dangerous to shut it down from underneath him. 

He’s not responding, he clearly had something on his mind he didn’t want to talk about and he’s doing something incredibly self-destructive, given how exhausted he looked. Whatever’s got him like this? There’s no time to call the others up first. Time to be a bit reckless yourself, Aoi.

Aoi turned her own atomicycle on and sped after him, tuning into the Backroom line as she did, “Drifter? Flare? Can either of you hear me?” Hopefully neither of them are too dead asleep..

They were asleep, mostly; Flare had arrived back just a bit ago and tucked themself in by the Drifter, who had dozed off not long after leaving Quincy earlier.

This being the case, Flare had no clue about the depth of the chaos going on around the mall tonight.. Other than the fact that Drifter was sleeping very soundly with their hair all ruffled like they’d had some fun with someone, they’d seen Arthur arguing for Velimir to serve him more drinks just a bit ago, and before that they’d seen Drifter walk off with Quincy, then Arthur, both times tucking themself off somewhere to speak in private.. Didn’t have the connecting line yet to put all those events together, quite yet anyway. 

Flare was drifting in and out of sleep, gently running their fingers through their sleeping spouse’s hair, when they heard Aoi’s call from the radio downstairs. They gently shook the Drifter awake, “Angel, Aoi’s calling you on the radio line– sounds urgent.”

That’s all it took to get them up, as usual. Always sad to see that their instincts could take them from peacefully sleeping to ready for combat in just a few seconds. “Shit.. Alright.” They pulled themself out of Flare’s grasp and made a void sling to get down from the loft and right up to their radio. “I’m here– what’s happening, Aoi?” Did something happen to Amir and Elle?

“Stormfall’s going towards the east shelter! Supposed techrot purge, but I’m not buying it; I was going to call you and Quincy, but Arthur snuck past me and rushed out! He is not in a condition to be out here right now and I don’t know why– get Quincy out here with me as soon as you can, I need you to be on comms and be Lettie’s backup. Elle and Amir are on their way back.”

The Drifter’s stomach dropped. Was it just the conversation they’d had with Arthur earlier that had him like this, or did he see you coming to or from Quincy’s room? “Copy that. I’ll go find him, hang tight out there.” They put on their own radio headset and turned back to Flare, who had made their way down to listen in.

“You want me to grab Liz and go with them?” Flare said with concern, looking intently at their spouse’s reaction. 

There was a flash of panic in the Drifter’s eyes, even considering that. “No. I need you here.. If Viktor’s calling Stormfall out as a first step, something’s got him riled up tonight and I can’t have you out there when we don’t know what he’s up to.” Drifter said with a very protective tone. If Viktor was up to something, the last person they wanted to be out there speeding off after Scaldra was Flare. “Besides, we need as many of us back here as we can get if this is some kind of bait-and-switch.. Go make sure that Minerva and Velimir are up and see if any of you can track down Kaya, I’m going to find Quincy.” They quickly pulled their boots on and went sprinting out of the backroom, up to Quincy’s room.

Quincy was also struggling with sleep; he’d nodded off not long after the Drifter left his side, but had been tossing and turning with strange nightmares ever since. Weird blends of his memories– remembering Drifter where Arthur was supposed to be and vice versa; or just swapping some of their features. Drifter with early greys and a dead eye zapped out by Amir’s powers, Arthur with that futuristic braid and smoldering void-light covering over his dark irises.. Felt awful calling the beauty of that a nightmare; but he was mostly cursing his head for mixing up his thoughts on those two gloomy combat vets again.

He’d given up on sleep for a bit, laying back in his bunk and staring up at that board of photos above his bed. Himself and Arthur in a lineup of the Crimson Watch, the pair of them and Lettie out in a pub somewhere on leave.. Then with Aoi in the ICR, her arm draped over Arthur’s shoulder; one of the last pieces of proof that those two were ever together, other than the tension in the air between them whenever they butt heads over something. Was always a little jealous of her, until they broke up very messily.. Hell. Was still jealous of her, even then.

A series of frantic knocks on his door snapped Quincy out of his wandering thoughts. “Quincy! Open up!” 

He crossed the room and opened the door to see the Drifter with a panicked face, dressed in a clashing combo of their pajamas, combat boots and their radio headset. “Quincy– Scaldra are headed towards the east shelter; huge force for this early in the year. Aoi was going to call you and I out but Arthur went out instead, and from how Aoi sounded rushing out after him, he shouldn’t be out there.” They’ve got that look again, like they did earlier, Quincy.. Like they know far more than they’re letting on.

“Arthur ran out on his own?!” Quincy confirmed, immediately rushing back into his room to pull his gear together. “D’you know what’s got him in a tizzy?”

“I–Maybe? I think he might’ve–” Drifter made sure their mic was muted before saying this– Arthur himself might be listening in after all, “I think he might have.. Seen us? When I followed you up here earlier?”

Still not answering the question fully, D.. Shit, though, “You think that’s what’s got him doing something this reckless?” 

They shut right up at that, just staring Quincy down with big, worried eyes. There's definitely something they're not saying..

Quincy let out a sigh. “We’ll talk about that later.. Got to get him and the civvies safe first. Let Aoi know I’m on my way.” He pushed past, hopping down from the mall balcony and rushing for the garage.

Arthur had never been bothered by you sleeping around any time before, Quincy, other than rolling his eyes or telling you to focus on the mission at hand, so why would that insinuation have him acting like this.. 

Earlier that evening, Drifter was speculating that Arthur had eyes for you– then later after sex, they acted confident that they were right, and had a couple of very specific questions that sounded like they were reassuring Arthur’s usual brand of self-loathing.. 

Drifter you didn’t talk to him about this shit, did you? Fucking hell.. He repeated to himself; bring that up later, bring him home now.

Chapter Text

Arthur landed out there first, given that he was far ahead of Aoi– and it was hell out there.

Scaldra were out in full force, but they weren’t lying, there really was a techrot outbreak out at the same time. A huge sinkhole had broken open just a couple blocks down from the shelter, revealing that the train line underneath had been festering for quite some time under everyone’s noses.  Every loop so far one had pop up somewhere near here around now, but never so close to the civilians– And with that so close, the entire street was choked in Efervon, indiscriminately fumigating out techrot and human alike. 

He flew into the fray without hesitation, chopping down both Scaldra and the techrot they were firing upon and covering for a few civilians who had gotten caught outside, pushing them towards safety and making sure they had as clear of a path as possible. He was running on pure adrenaline; all other energy he had tonight was thoroughly spent crying after the Drifter had left him alone, and then later when he was certain he’d seen the Drifter wandering into Quincy’s bunk.

It was still on his mind while his skana cut a bloody path through just about anything and everything in his way.

Why? Why, Drifter? Why tear him down like that, try and convince him there’s even a fragment of a chance that Quincy feels the same, then turn around and go fuck him on the same damn evening? What the hell was your intent behind that, or Quincy’s?

Aoi was close behind him– She’d given up trying to convince him to turn around. It’ll just wind him up further, and from the fact that he wasn't reacting to her, Amir or Elle at all, he probably shut his fucking radio off.. Dammit Arthur.. Just keep him safe. She had his back, dragging a techrot monstrosity that had snuck up in his blind spot off and away down the street towards her. Occasionally, she flicked her eyes up towards the rooftops; Quincy was on his way, Drifter said so– surely he could shake some sense into him, even if it got the two of them in a fight over it? 

Sol, though– No wonder Scaldra was in full force here; if this was a false techrot purge, it sure wasn’t anymore, as just about every piece of tech from the subway station below had grown legs and started chasing people down the street. From her radio, it sounded like the shelter had gotten itself shut up tight in time, but their seals weren’t perfect, and there were only so many gas masks to go around.. Gotta get this handled before things get any worse for them..

Quincy got out there shockingly fast for not being Amir; he knew his way around this section of the city like the back of his hand and he was going far faster than he should to catch up. 

About a block away he ditched his bike and jumped to the rooftops, stopping occasionally to scan for any sign of his allies. Something didn’t sit right with him, beyond the storm of feelings in his own head. A cold, dreadful feeling of deja vu– jumping across snowy rooftops at night, keeping an eye out for him. Coming to help when Arthur wouldn’t be expecting him, from the sounds of it.. Just missing Amir with them, and he’d have sworn he’d blinked himself back or forward to New Years.. 

Can hear Aoi somewhere nearby– could hear her powers banging something metal about in the next street over, so where's he- There's Arthur.  

Couldn’t mistake that rush of energy for anything else, slicing a line through anything in his path. Quincy caught a glimpse of his face through his scope– Sol, he does look awful. That was a bit of deja vu, too. That look he got in those last few days when he didn’t think anyone was looking, like the sky was about to fall down on his head and he’d accepted that. You didn’t help that, Quincy, running off like that and leaving them all behind.. Leaving Arthur behind, even if he’s the one that didn’t fight you when you said you wanted out..

Arthur caught a glint out of the corner of his eye down on the ground. Painted in blood and gore, he looked up to the rooftops and froze like a deer in the headlights, seeing Quincy looking down at him through his scope.

If he’s here, is Drifter? Are they in there, staring down at you through Quincy’s eyes? 

He hardly noticed that the ground beneath him was starting to shift.

But Quincy could. He screamed from the roof, voice full of more panic than Arthur had heard him in a long time. Crimson Watch, probably- when they were still human. “ ARTHUR! GET OUT OF THERE!”

What– The street collapsed beneath Arthur’s feet, sending him and a huge tank of Efervon the Scaldra had dragged out plummeting down through two layers of train station and line, and into a sprawling techrot hive below.

All Quincy and Aoi could see and hear was the dust and late snow being kicked up by the crumbling street, and then Arthur screaming in pain.

“Fuck– Aoi, I’m goin’ after him, cover me!”

Aoi rounded the corner through an alley to see Quincy leaping off the rooftop straight down into the pit that Arthur had fallen down. She caught a hail of bullet fire that was headed straight for Quincy on his way down and yelled out over her comms, “Shit- Drifter! We need more backup– Arthur’s hurt, I dunno how bad– Get M and V out here and make sure Lettie’s got her Efervon kit ready!”

While this was happening; back in the mall, Flare had posted themself up against the wall, watching over their partner closely as they kept a close watch on the radio.

The Drifter had gotten into their transference suit just in case and looked very concerned, beyond the unfolding situation..

“..Angel, what the hell's going on around here tonight?” Flare raised an eyebrow, craning their neck to try and get a better look at the Drifter’s face.

This seemed like a fairly normal evening, but Flare was clearly missing something that the Drifter was well aware of. Knew them long enough to tell when their worried expression was more than the formless dread that wormed its way into their head sometimes. They rattled off what they knew thus far, “Arthur was trying to drink some kind of sorrow away earlier, but Velimir turned him away after a couple beers.. You came in and talked to Vel a bit before that, I think? And that was after I saw you walk off with Arthur– and before that I saw you going off through the back with Quincy before sunset, after he’d had a couple of drinks..”

Quite the tangle of conversations there that they were putting together into a timeline..

Oh Void, Flare had been there on stage during all of that, true.. “Um. So.. You know that betting pool Eleanor’s got going?” The Drifter shifted in their seat a bit to turn towards Flare.

Starting to see some connective tissue forming.. “About whether or not Quincy and Arthur will ever just kiss already?” Flare smirked. “The one you were specifically banned from putting your name into because Elle thought you might cheat somehow after what you pulled to get Lettie’s head out of her ass about her?”

“Yeah, that one.” There weren’t any others, to be fair, but, “I um.. I was talking with Quincy earlier about that. Not– Not the bet, him and Arthur. Caught Q looking at us kissing with a lonely look in his eye.. So I went to check in on him- brought the idea up when we went outside to talk..”

“How’d he take it?”

The Drifter gave a bit of a shrug at that. “Not well, at first. I might’ve pushed a bit hard.. I just want to see him happy, you know? So I might’ve gone.. A bit far..” The singing was a bit much, wasn’t it..

Flare narrowed their eyes at the Drifter a bit. Drifter.. From your tone, you’re softening just how hard you pushed at that sniper’s buttons, aren't you sugar.. “What about Arthur? He was gone for a couple of hours after you talked to him, and then he came slumping his way in like he got his heart broken..”

Shit, he did see, didn’t he– “I. Definitely pushed him hard..”

“..Same topic? You out there playing Cupid, darling?” Flare said with a light bit of laughter, if only trying to lighten the mood.

“I. Can’t deny that, no.. I shook him up good, I think. Usually that works with him and me– Just be as honest as we fucking can, even if it hurts one or.. Both of us. Easiest way I’ve found to make him realize he’s being stupid about something. I was worried he’d drink himself under the table over it though, so I warned Vel he might be on a self-destructive streak tonight..” Their eyes went from Flare to the radio, pointedly, as in ‘and you see how that went’.

Oh, hells, Drifter.. That still didn’t explain why Arthur looked quite so broken, unless.. Flare curiously cocked their head to the side. “Were we all wrong, did those two talk and it went bad? Arthur get rejected?”

“No, um.. Okay." Drifter took a deep breath in, putting their hands together as if in prayer, or asking forgiveness. "Darling. My star. Here’s the part where I’m going to ask you to um. Just listen and.. Not.. Judge too hard? I do have my reasons, I swear..” The Drifter grinned awkwardly up at Flare.

“Oh gods, sugar, what did you do– I’m listening, continue.” Flare said, a little smile creeping across their face as they had one hand resting across it in a sort of half-facepalm. Could already tell this was going to be a mess from their preamble there..

“I said Quincy didn’t take it well at first.. He approached me a bit later and said he wanted to talk, so we went up to his bunk.. When we talked the first time, I’d extended my offer to, y’know.. Um.. Bring some. Benefits into our friendship.” Dancing a bit around that, despite the fact they knew Flare would have walked in on them sleeping with pretty recognizably sex-tousled hair. They were probably already connecting some dots.. “I won’t go too far into some more.. Personal stuff we talked about, that’d be breaking a promise I made to him, but.. He.. Admitted he still has feelings for me, beyond just being friends. But, that he doesn’t want to pursue that, because he knows I don’t feel the same way.”

Flare nodded along. Not too bad so far, if anything it was more confounding that Quincy hadn’t been the one to slump his way back into the bar with a broken heart after that? Although, without context.. Quincy walking off with the Drifter after Arthur and them had their own conversation about Quincy.. “You think Arthur’s this whipped up because he thinks you slept with Quincy earlier?”

The Drifter went quiet for a few moments, bashfully looking down at their feet.

“..Drifter. Baby. Did you go and sleep with Quincy just hours after shooting both him and Arthur with Cupid’s arrow?” Flare kicked off the wall and got closer, pointedly glaring down at their partner. Not mad with them, just. Did you really–

“I-" Might as well be. Totally honest.. "Y-yeah, yeah I did.. It’s just platonic though! Me and Quincy, that is.” The Drifter put their hands up in surrender; despite the fact that they were pretty sure Flare wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t platonic between them and Quincy? ”He’s working through his.. Less platonic feelings on his own time, us having fun like that helped him even, he said–”

Flare was now painfully reminded of the ridiculous and mildly alarming lengths that Drifter had gone to in pushing them to start considering Lizzie as something benign and get them together.. Oh, no.. Oh no, sugar.. You’re just like that, aren’t you.. 

“-And then after, Quincy was really deep in thought and told me outright he does have feelings for Arthur.. But, yeah.. I think.. I didn’t see him at the time, but I think Arthur might’ve.. Seen me walking off that way with Quincy? Or.. Oh Void, I hope he didn’t hear us.” The Drifter’s face fell into a deeper worry. There were a lot of somewhat loud, gasping ‘I love you, Quincy’s at the end there.. 

And here’s the point they might not have considered, that would make all of this make a whole lot more sense; “..Drifter. Is Arthur aware you sleep with people platonically?” 

Drifter’s eyes went wide. Oh. Whoops. Oh, no. “Uuuuuh.. No. No it hasn’t. Come up with him at all, we don't really.. Talk about things like that- Oh, Void.”

Flare cracked up laughing in disbelief, shaking their head. “I’m.. Gods, Drifter. I’m sure you can figure out how to explain it later when he stops being quite so broody, I’ll back you up, even.” They gave their spouse a pat on the shoulder. They were mostly trying to keep them calm, but they did believe in the closeness of their relationship with both Quincy and Arthur that they could explain themself in a way that wouldn’t fuck those friendships up too badly..

”Welcome to some of the messy queer relationship nonsense you missed by being trapped in a storybook all the years you were a young adult, sugar. This sounds like some shit I got into like.. A decade and a half or so ago, now?” Still not sure whether or not to count the loop years. ”Or some of the messy constellations the Rippers got into, on again off again.. I’m almost proud at how much of a mess your chaotic ass has gotten into in just one evening, sugar.”

Not sure whether to take that as a complement or not– 

The Drifter’s radio crackled back to life after a long period of relative silence, with Aoi’s voice and the sound of gunfire, “Drifter! Need more backup– Arthur’s hurt, I dunno how bad– Get M and V out here and make sure Lettie’s got her Efervon kit ready!”

“Shit– Copy that, Aoi!” Drifter turned up to Flare, “Uh- You go find M and V again, I’ll go tell Lettie!”

Flare nodded, following right behind the Drifter out the door until the pair split off. This’ll be fine; Flare reassured themself. Just.. Hopefully Drifter won’t beat themself up over whatever just happened to Arthur.. 

Quincy landed down into the techrot hive with his knife at the ready, looking around to take in the scene. A whole tangle of rot had twisted its way through the underground, destabilizing the structure that resulted in the collapse. There were techrot mutants of all shapes and sizes jumping and clambering up through the new opening, leaving a few behind to harass Quincy and Arthur– Arthur. Where the hell are you now? What happened to you to make you scream the moment you hit the floor?

Quincy wrestled away from an obsolyte that was trying to grab hold of him, frantically looking around the space to piece together where the groans of pain that Arthur was making were coming from in the echo-y space. 

There’s the tank that fell down with him– It cracked open on impact and was melting away at the hive and hindering a lot of the techrot down here. Lucky that, honestly, that probably would have weakened the ones that got out past Quincy– There he is.

Wildly flailing his sword at a huge babau’s tendril wrapped around his leg was Arthur, downed and being dragged around the room like a ragdoll. Oh Sol, that’s why he screamed like that– He’d gotten hit with the Efervon tank when it burst open, even from some distance Quincy could see that it had splashed across his chest, arms and shoulders at the very least, eating away at his skin as easily as it did the mass of rot he was being scraped against. 

Quincy cut his way through to Arthur, where he landed his boot firmly on that tendril that was wrapped around Arthur’s leg and hacked away at it, freeing him, but bringing the babau’s attention firmly onto himself   instead. Good. Leave him the fuck alone, he's been through far too much tonight already..

Arthur was starting to lose consciousness at this point through the pain, both from the Efervon and all the damage added on top of that by that babau scraping the burns on his back through rubble and techrot growth. Not to mention the Efervon that was in his lungs now, as it turned itself into a gas that filled the space the more it ate away at the techrot mass. But he didn’t miss that Quincy was here. Fucking saving him.. Tonight of all nights.

Through hazy, pain-delirious vision, Arthur tried to gain the composure to rejoin the fight as he watched Quincy wrestling with that particularly tough techrot monstrosity, gasping for breath– though that only served to deliver more corrosion into his system.

Quincy was on top of the damn thing, hacking away pieces of it with that ceramic knife of his– He was usually a much more long ranged fighter, but that didn’t mean he was entirely useless in a close scrap like this. That being said, the babau had wrapped a tendril around and through the hollows of each of his forearms to try and stop him, harshly bending at the metal that Quincy suddenly deeply hated having feeling in, after having blessing the techrot for that just earlier for letting him feel Drifter's skin..

Just fucking die, you gods-damned bastard, get away from Arthur–

Arthur heard Quincy scream and the sound of something metal clanking past him– his eyes followed the sound; the babau had ripped Quincy’s left prosthetic off and sent it flying, and from the sound of it, the beast was working on his right, too. 

No, no, no no no, Arthur, you can’t let him go down here, not for you, not from this– 

Using his skana for support, Arthur pushed through the burning pain to stand, limping his way over to the fight– Fuck, Arthur, pretty sure it either broke or dislocated something in your leg– or both. He dragged himself over, and with the last of his strength, shoved the blade of his sword right through the babau’s head, leaving it twitching and sputtering as it slowly died.

Arthur passed out without even knowing if he succeeded, or the extent of the damage it had done to Quincy.

The last thing he heard before he blacked out was Aoi yelling from the street above;

“Oh, Sol– Velimir! I’m gonna go hotwire one of those APCs; Arthur and Quincy are both down! Help me drag them up!”

Chapter Text

Minerva and Velimir tagged in to be the ones to clean up the rest of the mess while Aoi quietly drove Quincy and Arthur back home, doing her best to maintain a cool head despite the gory sight behind her.

Both of them were alive but in rough shape– Quincy’s arms were both fucked and he’d sustained some scrapes, stabs, cuts and light Efervon burns, but Arthur was far, far worse– Exposed techrot musculature out in the open air across a lot of his upper torso where his swordsteel skin had been totally eaten away, and his breathing was very rough. 

Quincy was awake, but totally quiet- just watching over Arthur and flinching at every bump the APC hit as they jostled Arthur around where he was laid out across a few of the back seats.

Dammit, Quincy.. You go and seduce one of your loves, and the other one might die just hours after. 

If he does die.. He’ll be back, right? On the reset? But.. Fuck, what’ll that do to Elle..

Arthur faded in and out of consciousness as he was dragged into Lettie’s care by Aoi, he figured– Quincy got injured, so certainly that couldn’t be him, though his barely conscious mind wasn’t making sense of the shape of the person dragging him in. 

Any fragment of thought he had at the moment was utterly destroyed with worry– had his self-admitted recklessness gotten Quincy as injured as he currently was, or worse?

Would Arthur have to spend nine months without him; with the guilt that reacting like a lovesick, jilted teenager to Drifter riling him up got Quincy killed?

The drugs that Lettie got him put on didn’t much help the worry, though they solved most of his physical pain–

He could hear the Drifter at one point through the haze of Lettie’s best pain meds, just jumbled bits and pieces of them standing over whatever he was laid out on talking to Lettie,

“How bad’s the damage underneath–”

“-parts for his chest, shoulders and arms printing–”

“I’m not confident enough to replace something that major–”

“You focus on Arthur, I’ve got Quincy–”

“Hand me one of those kits, he was breathing in the Efervon too–”

Arthur dozed off for an indeterminate amount of time, then woke- if only for a few moments- to a familiar silhouette blocking the light coming through his mostly closed eyes. Couldn't mistake him anywhere.. Wide shoulders, dark skin, long braids hanging down in his face, beads softly clinking together as he moved his head.. 

Like a damn angel watching over him, especially with the ceiling light haloing behind his head. 

He’s always been that, hasn’t he, Arthur. 

World’s most unwilling guardian angel, keeping an eye on you through a sniper scope and cussing you out every time he has to save your ass..

Then why does he keep doing it?

And like an angel, he was singing.. Certainly you’re seeing him staring down at you from Lua’s embrace, either welcoming you in alongside him, or pitying you because you're not coming with him tonight..

Off key but still beautiful to Arthur’s ears, that angel hummed, then sang a familiar tune while left all alone in what constituted as Lettie’s only hospital room, his voice trembling like he was in tears;

“..I only had but one true love, and in Höllvania he lies slain.

I’ll do as much for my true love, as any young man may. I’ll sit and moan down by his grave, for a twelve-month and a day..

When twelve months and one day was past, his ghost began to speak; ‘Why dost thou sit upon my grave and will not let me sleep?’

There is one thing that I want, sweetheart, there is one thing that I crave, and that is a kiss from your sweet lips, then I’ll go from your grave..

‘My breast, it is cold as clay– my breath is earthly strong. And if you kiss my cold, clay lips; then your days, they won’t be long..’” 

As Arthur’s consciousness faded again, he could swear he just felt a pair of warm lips press against his sweating forehead..

Quincy was the one who dragged Arthur in, dragging him up with a bit of Aoi's help once they hit the stairs.

Drifter and Lettie were already waiting there for them to arrive. It made Lettie’s stomach sink, seeing Arthur be dragged in like that. Her mind went all the way back to her time with the Libertatian army, watching Arthur himself drag in wounded soldiers, even Quincy one time.. There wasn’t time to be tangled up in the cobwebs of bad memories, though. 

“Get him in here, Drifter– no sleep for either of us, babas. I need you for this.” She said, beckoning Quincy and the Drifter to follow her back to a shopfront she’d recently sectioned off with curtains into a shared hospital room, that could hold about 6 patients, a few more if she really needed to. At the moment it was empty, but it did cross her mind– shit, she’s probably going to have to deal with civilians coming in with similar damage, soon, as soon as Velimir and Minerva secure the scene where all this happened..

Focus on Arthur for now– Lettie’s eyes finally caught Quincy’s wounds, after Arthur was laid out on a cot. He’s up, but shit, he’s injured too and some of those aren’t exactly her realm of expertise, looking at Quincy’s distinct lack of hand and most of his left forearm.

Lettie took a deep breath. Calm down, Leticia. You’re helping no one by getting overwhelmed and emotional. Yell at either of them for whoever was reckless here later. Make sure Arthur gets through the night first. Or the morning, by now. “Drifter–”

It’s like they read her mind, they’d already arrived with exactly what she was looking for, one of her self-packaged anti-Efervon kits- mostly a jury-rigged oxygen mask with some extra meds for the burns and pain- and they were already getting the mask ready to fit over Arthur’s face. “What happened out there?!” They asked for Lettie, eyeing the damage as Lettie took the mask out of their hands.

There was a lot of damage to his upper torso, his arms, and one of his legs– which, by the way it was laying, looked like either his knee had been badly dislocated, or something was broken. Hard to tell without opening him up, it wasn’t like they exactly had an x-ray setup in here. On top of all that, his breathing was very labored, and sounded painful even from here..

Theoretically, the Helminth strain could fix all of this, but funny thing– Helminth is techrot, techrot gets eaten right up by Efervon; this much damage with it was surely slowing down his healing. Not to a human rate, thank the stars, but to a degree where this was legitimately scary..

Drifter looked up to Quincy, waiting for his response. The injured sniper was just standing there, staring at Arthur, frozen. That’s when Drifter clocked the damage that had been done to him. “Fuck, Quincy, where’s your left arm–”

“Aoi– Aoi has it.” Quincy mumbled out, and sure enough, Aoi came up a few moments later to deliver it, joining in the worrying at the side, peering between Quincy, Lettie and the Drifter to get a look at Arthur. “He..” Quincy coughed, making it very obvious that he had also gotten a hefty dose of Efervon gas to his lungs, though not nearly as badly as Arthur, “The road collapsed under ‘im, not sure what all went down but a whole tank of Efervon went down with ‘im, by the time I got down there he was gettin’ swung around like a dog toy by a damn babau..” He never took his eyes off of Arthur, recounting all that.

Drifter shared a worried look with Lettie, hearing how rough Quincy’s voice sounded. “Lettie–”

“His breathing’s calming down, meds must be hitting his system. Shit, though.. There isn’t a lot for me to stitch up.” She said, eyes scanning the damage as she started applying an anti-corrosive fluid to the wounds. If you can't do anything else, stop it from getting worse.. 

Drifter took in a deep breath, doing their best to center themself and put themself into ‘fix it’ mode. Not helping anyone by panicking, Drifter.. “Quincy, get out of here.”

“What– I’m not leavin’ him.” Quincy said, as firmly as his voice could be at the moment, glaring the Drifter down.

The Drifter glared back and snapped, “Yeah, and you aren’t helping him, or Lettie by standing there staring. Nor yourself. You know me, Quincy. I’m about to say some really disturbing shit, you sure you want to hear that?”

Lettie nodded in agreement, giving an intense look of her own at Quincy. “Q, love it or hate it, I need Drifter’s skills fixing warframes at this point to figure this shit out.”

“...I can take it.” Quincy lied, but he did compromise by at least stepping away, joining Aoi at the side.

Drifter sighed. Good enough, at least he’s not directly hovering. “How bad’s the damage underneath, can you tell?” They said, leaning in a bit to get an ear close and listen to Arthur’s breathing, while Lettie was giving his heart a listen.

“He’s.. It’s rough.” Not exactly a scientific response, but Drifter, oddly enough for their usual proclivities, didn’t exactly work scientifically with this, not in a way that made total sense to Lettie anyway. “His heart’s as good as it can be at the moment, but even with the anti-Efervon working through his system, his breathing’s not getting any better..”

“Shit.. Um. Okay. I’m going to go get parts for his chest, shoulders and arms printing, grafts for all of this.” The Drifter said definitively, making note of what had gotten hit the worst as Lettie also did, gently moving him to see the section taken out of the back of his shoulder as well.

“Humor me, babas– could you replace his lungs if need be? I’ve seen you carry in your ‘friends’ in worse states than this and walk out with them shiny as can be the next day. You think you could do that for him if worst comes to worst?” She looked up at them seriously, trying her best to hide the worry in her voice.

Drifter shook their head. “I’m.. I’m not confident enough to replace something that major, not in any protoframe. We’ll just have to pray Helminth can heal him. His technocytes. I’m hoping that grafting over the skin will give them something better to focus on.”

Lettie raised an eyebrow at that. “What do you mean? Explain, quick, and no hiding anything. Forget I’ve ever given you an odd look for talking like you know the Techrot personally.” Which they did, technically– they were married to it, via one infested guitar..

Drifter’s eyes flicked to Quincy and Aoi for a moment, before continuing, “Helminth can’t make something out of nothing, that’s just physics– she’s got to have some kind of material to make new skin, new flesh, new.. Whatever from. Arthur– he was working most of the early evening, then.. I’ll explain later, but he had a rough night after. Given that, I highly doubt he ate much for dinner, so his technocytes are working very lean at the moment, not to mention the Efervon damage to their network. And they aren’t exactly focused, they just heal whatever, so I’m. I’m hoping that if I do the work on his skin for them, they’ll focus on his lungs and whatever else might’ve gotten damaged further in.”

Drifter hadn’t known the workings of the infestation this closely until recently; being married to Flare and Lizzie gave them a lot of insight onto the Helminth’s methods. Helps to be able to talk to a bit of the infestation that’s a bit human, and a human who, more than anyone here other than Eleanor, is a bit of the infestation.

Creeped Lettie the hell out still, but it was very helpful. “Alright. Got any idea how quickly you can get that done?”

“It’s just a partial print job so.. Within an hour, two tops.”

Lettie nodded. “I’m certain I can keep him stable that long, even if I get in some civilians–” Shit. Quincy.

Drifter followed her eyeline over to him. “..You focus on Arthur, I’ve got Quincy. Hand me one of those kits, he was breathing the gas in too.”

Lettie obliged, but confirmed– “You’re sure?”

Drifter nodded, taking the kit from her hands. “I’ll be back as soon as I’ve got the grafts done. I’m keeping my radio on, let me know if anything develops out here, good or bad.” They walked confidently over to Quincy, who had been spacing out listening to the horrific details of the Drifter’s prognosis until they entered his sightline. “Quincy. Come with me, give Lettie space. I’ll get you stitched up.”

Aoi gave the Drifter a concerned look– she could tell they were on the edge of snapping under the pressure, just laying tracks directly in front of their train and desperately hoping they weren’t going to derail and crash.

Quincy glared at the Drifter– he had tears in his eyes and rolling down his cheeks that were hidden until he tilted his head up into the light a bit. “I told you, I’m not fuckin’ leaving him–”

The Drifter snapped, as Aoi had worried they would, “QUINCY.” Relatedly, Aoi was reminded of Arthur snapping at her earlier, “I– Quincy, your arms are the only things I can absolutely be certain I can fix right now. Please. Please just give me this.” They said, voice softening as they also started to cry, the weight of the whole situation finally coming down on them. “Please.”

Quincy had started to think that the Drifter was treating this situation coldly, but no– they were trying to hide just how much they were panicking inside, too, until they met any resistance from him refusing them. 

“L-Like I said to Lettie. I’m keeping my radio on. If anything goes wrong out here we’ll know. Please.” The Drifter pleaded, eyes focused on Quincy’s bent and broken prosthetics. They remembered just hours ago– though it felt like forever, by now– when he confirmed that he could feel them.. Could he feel them even detached through his own personal technocyte network? If so that must really fucking hurt and he’s not showing it..

Quincy looked over at Lettie and Arthur, then back to the Drifter, letting out a labored sigh. “Alright.. Lead the way, D.”

Flare had been waiting in the backroom for the Drifter and Amir to return– they had just finished updating Amir and Eleanor over the radio about what had happened– what they knew so far, anyway, when the Drifter walked in with Quincy close behind. “Hey– Shit, Q..” Their eyes widened, realizing that Drifter was carrying one of his forearms. Their eyes went to their partner, who was beelining for their foundry. Both they and Quincy peeked over to see the futuristic screen that popped up, with the Drifter scrolling through a whole list of warframe parts- none that were relevant right now.

Drifter hissed to themself, “...Fuck, I really intended to make sure I had some of these as backups ready–" Fuck this is going to make more people with questions later- "Flare, honey, out of the way, I need the radio.” They stomped over to Flare and their radio setup with purpose, again trying to focus their mind on fixing what they could, just running on momentum at this point. If anything stopped them, they’d probably collapse under the weight of all the panic, all the guilt that was creeping at their brain.

“Sugar– Are you okay? You haven’t slept..” Flare said in a worried tone, watching the Drifter tune their radio to that ‘cheat code’ of dial settings that connected them to their other self, far, far away. 

“Doesn't matter- I have to be. Lettie’s busy patching Arthur together, she needs these to fix him, and I can’t just leave Quincy like this..” The Drifter said up at Flare, before picking up the mic. “Kid? Ordis? Either of you there? I could really use some help out here..”

The radio made a strange, distorted noise before focusing in on what was an oddly familiar yet alien voice to both Flare and Quincy; someone with the Drifter’s exact rhythm of speech, but a good deal younger and calmer, like all the edge had been filed off, “I’m here, Drifter– Everything alright? You sound like you’ve had a rough.. Day? Night? Whatever time it is for you.”

“No, nothing’s alright, but hopefully it will be? Can I. Can I get a set of deconstructed blueprints for an Excalibur’s torso, both chassis and systems?”

“Uuuuuuh.. Sure?” The younger voice on the other side of the line sounded like they were stepping away into the distance, getting quieter, but still audible; “Would replacements for Umbra’s parts work?”

“As long as you’re certain the only part of him that’s.. Different from a usual Excal is his neuroptics and transference bolt?”

“Certain. And good, because that’s all I’ve got to work with right now. Should be headed for your foundry. Anything else?”

“No, not right now, I'll be good from there.” Drifter very much lied, but there was nothing that the Operator could help with.

The Operator, back in their Orbiter, narrowed their eyes over at their radio. Drifter, you’re me, I can tell when you’re lying.. Probably nothing they can fix from all the way here.. Gonna have to ask later. “Alright.. Let me know if that changes; or Ordis if I’m out by the time you call next. Say hi to the protoframes for me, and give Kalymos a pat–”

“Hey~” Flare chuckled lightly, waving at the radio as if the Operator could see them.

“Oh shit, didn’t know any of them were listening in– Hi! Whoever you are.” That voice sounded weirdly familiar? “Good luck with whatever’s going on; talk to you later, Drifter.”

“Yeah.. Thanks, Operator.” The Drifter hung up and immediately rushed over to their foundry to get that working, then returned to Quincy with their toolbox in tow. “Flare– Keep an eye on my foundry, let me know when that gets done so I can run them up to Lettie.”

They made a tiny attempt to lighten the mood, as they sat down by Quincy at their work table, “Unfortunately, I can’t do the same for your hands.. You’re real luxe, Q, I couldn’t replace these with a normal Cyte-09’s arms even if I tried..” Not without totally replacing them with techrot flesh and blood, anyway, and neither of them were in a state to have a conversation about that. If just Quincy was injured, they might ask, but no, not right now.

“..Why’re you really doing this, D?” Quincy said, watching as the Drifter turned on a couple of their work lights and started closely examining the bent metal and damaged techrot electronics on his right arm, turning it over delicately in their hands. Despite everything in his head about Arthur right now, it was at least comforting to be in their hands. As freaky as it was being repaired like a totaled tommy by the Hex’s resident warframe tech. 

His hands were the big focus.. Following their theory from earlier, Quincy had at least a slightly better night, and they knew he had dinner, ran into him in the food court before any of this had happened. So the stabs and cuts would heal quickly. This, they were less sure of.  “Like I said, this.. This is the only thing I can be sure I can fix.” 

There was a lot sitting behind that; Quincy’s mind was too muddled to really parse it, but Flare could. This is how they always acted when something went bad and they blamed themself for it, or something went bad and they were panicking about it– pick something up and try and fix it. Try and fix everything, if they could, even if it meant them not sleeping for gods only know how long.

“This isn’t your fault, Angel..” Flare said, obliging in their partner’s request to sit and keep an eye on their foundry, but refusing to let that sit in their head untouched. 

“Yes it is–” Drifter sighed, returning to Quincy. They put his arm down, and handed him the mask from Lettie’s anti-efervon medication. “Here, this is more important– I’ll detach this little side bit if you really want to stay up with us, that’s the pain meds. They’ll knock you right out.” They hated encouraging Quincy to not rest, but they knew what it was like on the other side of this; desperately worried the person you love, who doesn’t know you love them, might not make it through the night. And Quincy didn’t have the mercy of knowing that he could help fix his own crush. 

Quincy nodded to confirm. “Don’t need it.” He put the mask to his own face with his even somewhat functioning arm, taking a deep breath in– there was nothing for the pain, but it did at least calm the burning in his lungs, so that was enough. Muffled by the mask, he spoke, “..What do you mean it’s your fault, Drifter?” He remembered those questions he had for the Drifter earlier, when they came in telling him Arthur was in trouble.

The Drifter had started working on his detached left arm, replacing some little cables inside that had been torn out with donors from some kind of mostly benign techrot-infested gadget they’d dug up somewhere. “I– I wasn’t.. Totally honest with you, Q.. Um.. After we talked out on the roof, I ran into Arthur. With the topic on the mind, I.. I asked him.. Some similar questions I asked you. Whether or not he was lonely.. If he had feelings for you..”

Quincy’s brow furrowed, listening to that. He wasn’t stopping them, but.. Sol, Drifter, you really have been playing demon Cupid. If they asked him how he felt.. “..Is that why you were askin’ me all that, after we had sex?” Quick glance to Flare after asking that. No reaction, just the same worried look. Okay, so they probably knew already. Good. 

Drifter nodded, carefully bending a piece of metal back to how it was supposed to be, close enough anyway for the underlying techrot to return itself to normal.. “I.. I definitely pushed him hard, you know how I am with him..”

Quincy scoffed, which turned into a small coughing fit. “Yeah I do; listening to you two sounds like you’re yelling at your own damn selves.” Not the point, but it did flicker into his mind– If Drifter asked Arthur how he felt, did they know the answer to the question that’s been on his mind for years now, unasked and buried deep inside?

The Drifter grimaced a bit. He was right about that.. “Told him some similar things to what I told you– how I’ve noticed him looking up at your grave, or that glitter in his eye when you laugh..” They swallowed hard, trying not to cry. “I um.. Fuck. Quincy, you know how you didn’t know I was sleeping around casually with friends until earlier tonight? You, who I tell practically everything to?”

Quincy’s delirious mind started connecting that together with everything else. “..Fuck, he didn’t know, did he.”

“No. No, he didn’t." The Drifter confirmed, voice shaking, "So.. I went and snapped his ribs open, grabbed a hold of his heart..” Bad analogy right now, Drifter.. “Told him that you might feel for him..” Still not just going to tell Quincy that Arthur has feelings for him. Not right now. Arthur was pissed enough with them already without them saying any more of his secrets out plainly, and they were concerned that might make Quincy’s mental state worse. “Then.. Probably from his perspective..”

Quincy sighed, putting the mask down on the table by the little tank it was connected to. Slightly self-destructive in his own case to put that down, but he was a lot better off than Arthur was in that regard, and he wanted to make sure he was being heard, “From his perspective, you turned around from that talk then went and took me for yourself.”

Drifter nodded quietly, keeping their eyes off of Quincy as they continued to fix his left hand.

“Fuck– so if we hadn’t done all that, he’d be– shit..” He wouldn’t have gone out there like that. Maybe he’d still be shaken up by whatever Drifter had really said to him in full, but he wouldn’t have seen that. Or heard that. Did he walk by, hear you moaning about how damn good they felt, Quincy?

The screwdriver the Drifter was holding onto dropped with a clatter to the floor as it slipped from their grip. Quincy looked over at them to see that they were frozen in place, tears streaming down their cheeks. “..D’you..” They interrupted themself with a painful sob. “..Regret, what we did earlier?” 

This was all your fault Drifter. 

All you wanted to do was make the two of them happy, but you forget one little thing because you and Arthur don’t talk much outside of work and you got so fucking greedy for whatever attention you can get from your best friends and now Arthur might die and it’s all your fault–

For all Drifter claimed earlier that their feelings for Quincy were strictly platonic, Quincy could see something more than just the guilt that was now eating both of them up in their dark, tearful eyes. Like their heart just got crushed into a million pieces at the thought that Quincy would think of that lovely time they had together with regret. If that love they have for you is platonic, Quincy, what in hells did they define as platonic, because they looked like they’d just gotten dumped..

And Sol, it would have been so, so easy- and it was so, so tempting- to blow up on them about this, with all the heightened emotions building up inside him.

Blame them for all of this, for bringing all that up, winding Arthur up too, then not mentioning that they'd talked to Arthur at all to him before the two of them got in bed together.. 

But.. No. No, Quincy couldn’t. This wasn’t their fault. It’s not like they seeded the techrot there, or called in Scaldra, or made certain Arthur would stand where he was to get caught up in the collapsing road. 

And from what they said, they didn’t mean to hurt Arthur like they probably did. You know that, Quincy. They’re not as close with him, but they do care about him, deeply, just the same as they do anyone else here.

Besides.. They’re not the one that brought sex back up, are they, Quincy?

You’re the one that offered that.

If Drifter fucking you is what got Arthur into this mess.. You’re just as guilty of that as they are.

And, Quincy couldn’t bear to lie about this– “No.” He sighed. “Not for a moment, D..” He leaned in and laid a kiss to their forehead. “I don’t regret that. Not for a single goddamn moment. And even–” He started crying again now, too. “Even if it is your fault, at all, it’s.. It’s mine, too.”

Drifter nodded, leaning in and resting their face on Quincy’s shoulder as they cried. 

“..Hey. D?”

“..Yeah?”

“Focus on my right, will you? I’ll trust you to fix my left later. Get my right together, then I can go keep watch over Arthur, and you can rest, yeah? Lettie’s a big girl. She’s got this.” Quincy said, leaning his head up against the Drifter’s. They’re burnt the fuck out. They’re gonna start making mistakes if they keep pushing it, if they’re breaking down this bad so easily. As much as Quincy wanted to demand they stay up and do whatever they can to help Lettie– he loved them, too, and he couldn’t stand seeing them like this.

“..Okay.” The Drifter nodded, sniffling as they brought their head back off Quincy’s shoulders and picked the tool they’d dropped off the floor, turning their attention to Quincy’s right hand. That one was a lot easier to fix. Just have to coax the metal back into place and make sure all the articulation works properly.

They worked in silence, with Flare keeping close watch over from the corner, until Amir came in– he also looked deeply worried; probably checked in on Arthur before he got in here. Seeing the emotional state that Drifter and Quincy were in, he bee-lined for Flare instead, who explained the situation to him in hushed tones, encouraging him to give the Drifter and Quincy their space until they were done.

Flare wanted to go comfort them, but that could wait until Drifter finally agreed to rest. As much as they hated seeing their Angel go into this state of mind, Flare knew they were going to refuse to sleep without fixing something, and breaking their attention was only going to make them angry. 

The foundry whirred to a stop just as the Drifter and Quincy, still with teary eyes, went over every bit of articulation and function in his right hand. “Oh– Is it done over there? I’ll go with you, Quincy, and run those up to Lettie–”

“I’ll run them over, sugar, you stay right here.” Flare said firmly, carefully bundling their disturbing cargo– what looked like lengths of Arthur’s skin and musculature in a slightly incorrect color palette, deep charcoal instead of his more silvery grey– into one of the Drifter’s material bins to take over to the infirmary.

“No– I can do it." The Drifter said, getting up to stop Flare, but it was so clear they couldn’t do what they were planning. Their hands were trembling, their eyes were bloodshot from both crying and exhaustion, and no, Drifter, if you’re still blaming yourself for the state Arthur’s in, you’re actually the least capable person to be working on him right now. "Lettie might need me to help, she’s only worked with printed pieces a couple of times–”

“Babe, no.. Flare’s got this. Lettie’s got this.” Amir said, crossing the room to put a firm hand on the Drifter’s shoulder. They could void out any time, but they weren't, so that's a start.. “Trust in her.. It’s gonna be okay. You need to rest, sweetie..”

His memories of the relevant night were blurry, but he had seen Drifter like this once before– he was the one on the operating table that time. But he was in a better state, somehow, and so were they. That time, the Drifter didn’t have reason to blame themself for state the protoframe they designated as their patient was in. 

Or any of that.. Emotional crap that went into that– which, by the way, sweet Lua, velvet owl, leave with Eleanor for a few hours and you get into an entire soap opera plot in the meanwhile..

Flare stopped on their way out, leveling a very serious look at the Drifter’s panicking face. “Angel. You’ve done more than burn your candle at both ends– there’s no wick or wax left, you’re just smoke, babe. Rest. You’re not doing yourself, Quincy or Arthur any good wearing yourself threadbare like this.”

Hearing Flare say that made the exhaustion really start to set in, but they were stubborn, “Fuck– fine, but I’m not sleeping- just resting. I'll be up in case they need me.” The Drifter said, then watched as Flare left with Quincy close behind, sharing one last miserable, worried glance with Quincy as he stepped out of the room.

They didn’t. They didn’t stay up. Flare returned to the backroom after dropping off their delivery and Quincy back to Lettie’s care to see that the Drifter had already passed right out in Amir’s arms, curled up on the red lounge under the loft..

Quincy settled himself in with Aoi and Eleanor off to one side of the infirmary as Lettie worked. The three were totally quiet, other than anxious murmurs from Eleanor’s mind she couldn’t hold back. They had their heads resting on each other’s shoulders– Aoi on Eleanor’s, then hers on Quincy’s, with Quincy leaning his head against hers, watching as Lettie did her damndest to follow along with what the Drifter had taught her about medical work for once.

She’d watched along a few times when they came back with a particularly busted up frame, whether that be a member of one of the protoframe’s batches or not. Noting most of their techniques, though some seemed to be for Drifter only. Again, they seemed to have a relationship with the techrot like no one else in the house except Eleanor or Flare; no matter how much she tried, Lettie couldn’t just coax the techrot to work with her– she had to actually staple and stitch things into place.

Thankfully, the Drifter’s theories were correct. Not long after Lettie had gotten done repairing Arthur’s skin, his breathing started to level out– even saw the techrot taking to those oddly colored Excalibur parts, starting to creep the proper color over, like even Arthur’s techrot ‘buddies’ were so independent that they refused to be anything other than himself. 

Far into the mid morning now, Aoi finally convinced Eleanor to leave, now that it was assured that Arthur would make it. “Elle.. He’s gonna be okay. The best you can do for him is rest, sweetie..” Aoi said, laying a kiss on Eleanor’s cheek as she stood up, and coaxed her girlfriend to follow. “You too, Quincy. He’s not gonna poof if you take your eyes off him.”

At this point Lettie had left Arthur to heal on his own and was worrying over a group of civilians nearby; Velimir and Minerva had brought back the ones that were the worst off from the situation out east, while Kaya had gone back to use her wormholes to start helping the folks out there move to an alternate location, given that it was clear Scaldra knew where they were.

Quincy refused to leave Arthur’s side, even now that any worry about him dying was squashed for the most part.

He brought a chair over to his bedside, looking over Arthur’s sleeping face. With that romantic bug all stirred up inside him because of all of this, it was hard not to see Arthur as some kind of sleeping prince, laying up like that, now with that mask taken off his face, just tucked in under a blanket. Kiss him to break the spell.. If only it were that easy.

He was shifting a bit occasionally– hard to tell if that was him starting to come to consciousness, or having some kind of nightmare.. 

If it was the former, Quincy might regret this, if the answer to ‘do you have feelings for me, Arthur’ is ‘no’ somehow, after all this. 

Fuck it, though..

Quincy leaned over his bed, reaching up with his repaired right hand to brush a bit of Arthur’s fringe out of his face, as he started to hum a familiar tune that seemed to calm Arthur’s troubled dreams. Then sing it, as any inhibitions he might have had been long worn away by exhaustion and the entire rollercoaster of a night he’d been through. There was a part the Drifter missed when they sung it earlier, or at the least, a part Arthur sang, in the version he knew;

“..Was down in Cupid’s garden where you and I would walk, the finest flower that ever I saw has withered to a stalk. The stalk is withered and dry, sweetheart, the flower will never return; and since I lost my one true love, what can I do but mourn?”

When he was done with the song, he did one, final, reckless thing– he leaned a bit further in to Arthur’s side and laid a kiss on his sweating forehead, before leaning back into his seat. 

Lettie walked in not long after to see that Quincy had fallen asleep in the uncomfortable folding chair he’d dragged over– yell at him about that later. Everyone’s way too raw. He can sleep more properly later, at least he was sleeping at all.

He was singing that song, though.. Lettie’s face softened, noting that Arthur’s hair had been brushed from his face, and he was sleeping much more calmly..

Pretty sure you won that betting pool, Lettie. Gonna spend it all on good chocolate to make up for all this stress these two put on her tonight.

Chapter Text

It was early evening by the time Arthur truly stirred awake. He was alone in the infirmary aside from a few civilians laid up nearby; could hear them softly talking to one another through the makeshift curtain dividers. 

Sol, everything hurt. He groaned as he pulled himself up a bit, nudging the blanket over him down to see the extent of the damage. Not clear– he had a lot of bandaging around his shoulder and left arm that had gotten hit the worst, and everything still felt a bit scraped and skinned, even with his regeneration? His knee, too, it only started hurting when he moved it– he didn’t know it, but it turned out it was a bit of both; the babau had broken bone and dislocated his knee with how tightly it was grabbing onto him. And it hurt to breathe. His throat and lungs still felt raw at best.

He started to panic as he remembered everything else; Quincy. Getting dragged in, hearing Drifter and Lettie talk about replacing something major on.. Someone? And that the Drifter was taking care of Quincy.. If Drifter had Quincy– ugh, that phrasing. If Drifter was the one caring for Quincy, did that mean whatever happened to him was so extensive he had to be repaired like a damn warframe?

He looked around the room for any sign of anyone– there was a folding chair set up nearby, beside which was a table that had a glass of water left out on it for him, most likely, and his skana laying against it.. Arthur was grateful to see, at least, that his bandana was untouched, as far as he could tell from here. 

No one’s here– no one but civvies, anyway.

Where’s Lettie?

Where’s Quincy? 

Arthur grunted in pain as he shifted his legs over the side of his cot, including the one that definitely shouldn’t have weight on it right now, and pushed himself up with that table as stabilization. He bit down on his lower lip as weight was placed on his injured leg. Could feel something scrape uncomfortably.. But no, he can’t just sit here.. How long had he been out? It was late at night when he went down, but the sunlight that crept through into here looked like it was already getting to be sunset..

He slowly made his way towards the door, using walls and bits of furniture for support, when he was interrupted by Lettie’s voice,

“HEY! You get back in bed right now o te juro por dioses–” Lettie was approaching fast, with a coffee cup in one hand. Step away for 5 minutes and he’s doing something reckless again! 

Arthur was beaten down enough at this point that he actually listened to her for once, though he very much didn’t want to, shuffling back to sit on the side of the cot with her help.

Lettie set her coffee down nearby and walked over to a kit she had out nearby to grab some fresh bandages for Arthur’s chest, “What did you think you were doing, going out on your own like that?! From what Aoi said you shouldn’t have been out at all–”

“..Where’s Quincy? Is he.. Did he make it?” Arthur said; sounding absolutely broken– more than just because he’d just woken up, and that his throat was healing. 

His voice was gravelly on a good day, right now he sounded both like an entire gravel road and like he’d been dragged across it. Kind of had, given the rubble that babau had been scraping his back against.

Lettie turned to face him; for once, he had no fight in him, it was clear by the fact that it looked like he was about to cry, even when he must have known there were civvies nearby. She took a deep breath. Turn off the frustration for now. “He’s downstairs, eating some dinner with Aoi. Or breakfast, technically.. Fuck it, all our sleep schedules are screwed right now. He’s eating with Aoi.”

Arthur put his head into his hands and let out a deep, shaking sigh of relief, all the tension in his shoulders releasing with it. He’s alive. Thank Sol.

“Just barely got him away from here to go eat in the first place..” Lettie mumbled under her breath, shaking her head. “He’s fine. Much better off than you, anyway.. Drifter’s still got to put his left hand back together, but otherwise he’s fine.”

Wait, he was in here, even though he was fine? If so, then was that really him singing– no, Arthur. That must have been a dream.. He hates it when you sing that song, no matter how much Drifter demands you to sing it on open mic night quote ‘because Quincy will be sad if you don’t’. No he won’t, only time he actually acknowledged you singing that he called you a buzzkill. 

“Arthur?” Lettie snapped him from his trailing thoughts.

“Mm?” He mumbled back, not moving his face from out of his hands.

“Need to take a look at your wounds. Also, I’ll bring you up something to eat, when’s the last time you ate?” Lettie said, voice significantly softer than before as she knelt down by Arthur.

Arthur obliged, helping move his aching muscles to help her more easily unwrap the bandages. “What time is it?”

“About 1730, you’ve been out for a while. ”

“Uuh..” The previous night was a bit of a blur, before that conversation with the Drifter and everything that came after.. “About.. Shit.. 23 hours, then?” Well, that explained why his stomach hurt. Suddenly had the urge to go try and whip up something for himself and whoever else was hungry, but unfortunately that wouldn’t be happening.

“No wonder this is still healing so slowly then, seems our mad doctor’s theory has some merit..” Lettie examined his shoulder wounds– healing remarkably slowly for any of the protoframes.. “I don’t want to upset your stomach but I’ll try and get you something calorie-dense that isn’t pizza to give your little bugs something to work with.”

Arthur’s brow furrowed. Mad doctor? “Drifter?”

Lettie nodded, starting to re-wrap Arthur’s chest and shoulder. “They worried themself sick over you and Quincy.. I thought they were gonna come back out here to graft your shoulder themself from how they were talking, but Flare delivered the donor material for them and said they had a full-on emotional breakdown not long after they took off with Quincy to look over his hands.. Not quite sure what over, Flare didn’t want to stay and explain, just wanted to get back home to their ángel.. Haven’t seen Drifter since.” And she’d know if they were out and about unless they skulked their way out invisibly, their little mad scientist lab is right over there. 

..Probably broken up about you dragging Quincy out there into that mess. You were just so jealous that it wouldn’t be you out there with him on a damn battlefield, Arthur, that you almost got him and yourself killed.. Hell of a leader you are.

Lettie secured the last bandage in place and bundled up the dirty ones to dispose of. “Lay back down, I’ll go get you some food. Also; drink some damn water.” She said, pointing to the glass that was left out for him as she made her way out of his section of her makeshift hospital, where she immediately locked eyes with Quincy.

“..I heard you yelling, is he up?” Quincy said quietly, still exhausted but with a little glimmer of hope in his eyes. 

Lettie nodded. “Not up and about quite yet, but he’s awake. Don’t stay in here forever again, Q, you need your rest as much as he does.” She passed him by, giving him a pat on the shoulder as she made her way towards the stairs. Possibly a risky move leaving those two alone, but hopefully they won’t get into a spat surrounded by injured civilians?

Quincy ducked into Arthur’s ‘room’, giving him a once over with his eyes before saying anything. He’s strong enough to sit up at least, sitting on the side of his hospital bed with his eyes focused on a bandage on the back of one of his hands. Quincy tapped his currently only set of knuckles on the bar that held up one of the curtains as any way to knock. “Hey.. How’re you feelin’, Arthur?” 

He said that so damn softly.. Arthur sighed. “Been better. Been worse.. You?”

Understatement of the whole damn time loop there, Arthur.. Quincy shrugged, “‘Bout the same. Exhausted. Though, that’s just about everyone right now, pretty sure you’re the one of us that got any real sleep since the sitch out east.. They’re good, by the way. Best they can be. Vel, Minerva and Kaya got them moved to their alternate spot.”

Good. Good.. Under all the more personal emotions, Arthur was deeply concerned that the mess he made of that operation had completely fucked the civilians over. Sounds like that’s been cleaned up, though. He said nothing, just sipping at his water and refusing to look at Quincy. The sniper was in his blind spot, even, could really only see a blurry shape of Quincy’s legs in what remained of his left eye’s peripheral vision.

“..What were you thinkin’, goin’ out there like that with no backup? Aoi said you snuck right past her and looked like you didn’t get a wink even before all that shit with the Scaldra and Techrot.” Quincy said, narrowing his eyes at Arthur. Came out a bit more angry than he had intended it to.. “Drifter and me could’ve handled it, there was no reason for you to be out there–”

“Oh, you and the Drifter had a lot of things handled, last night, alright.” Arthur snapped back. 

..That confirmed that he did assume what they'd done at least, but– “The hell is that supposed to mean, Arthur–”

“Why are you here, Quincy?” Arthur glanced over, still not looking at Quincy’s face. Did get an eye of his hands, though.. Drifter had done a good job of fixing his right hand, but the left one.. 

It had been a long time since he’d thought of this, but seeing it mangled, going flying past him, reminded his war vet brain a bit too much of seeing what was left of him after that tank shot him, in the timeline that never was. He looked away again, before thinking about that risked making him cry. “Here to collect on my new debt to you? How’s my tab looking at this point, because I’m pretty sure it’s mostly been you saving my ass recently..”

Quincy gulped back tears of his own, glaring at Arthur. Really reminding him why he’d never made any of these feelings open, also shit are we just doing this in front of all those civvies over there– “I– I’m not here for that, you damn plumsack! Can I not be worried about my friend, is that against the rules now?”

Arthur sighed, “No, but I’m pretty sure you’d rather be comforting Drifter for the emotional turmoil I apparently put them through last night with my little stunt. And you’re not even the one who ended up laid up like this..”

Quincy was worried about them– they’d either been asleep for just as long as Arthur had, or hadn’t come out of their room.

Pretty sure he heard Amir running to and from the food court earlier, so maybe they were just curled up in their little hole, scared to see the aftermath of last night? Or just scared to face Arthur in general.. “They sure are busted up about you. We were all afraid you were gonna fuckin’ die, Arthur. Them and Elle and–” And you, Quincy– “Them and Elle were worrying themselves sick over you.”

Arthur let out half a laugh that turned into a coughing fit. “Oh, now Drifter’s concerned with my wellbeing. Tell them that’s really bloody funny after that conversation we had yesterday evening and what they did after. They’ll know what I mean, and if they don’t, I’ll go and punch some understanding into them.” You should understand too, Quincy, to some degree, or did they not tell you they ripped Arthur’s heart out, stomped on it, told him you’d fix it and then went and took any chance of you doing that?

Also really bloody funny given that they’d previously given the excuse, even as a joke, of ‘This also fights the Indifference because it’s bringing us closer’ to why it was okay actually that they’d distracted Amir, Flare and/or themself from a task they were scheduled for by having sex all morning, afternoon or night.. 

Quincy was really trying not to directly speak about this in public, and he still couldn’t comprehend quite how much this meant to Arthur, but– “They didn’t mean to hurt you –”

“Alright then, where are they  to talk about this? Why are you here to clean their mess up for them?” Arthur raised his voice, finally looking up towards Quincy’s face. Was he.. About to cry? 

“I’m right here..” A quiet voice cut in from behind Quincy, as the Drifter came out of void mode and darkened the ‘doorway’ into Arthur’s section of the infirmary, “I’m. I’m right here.” 

Lettie had poked her head in to the backroom on her way down, found what happened to the Drifter– they were curled up, looking like they’d been crying for a while, in that area under their loft listening to Flare and Lizzie play– any attempt to distract their brain while they were waiting to hear that Arthur had woken up.

Lettie told them he had, and from there, they had quietly padded their way out, then they started hearing Quincy and Arthur arguing and snuck in. Had been listening to most of this, standing invisible behind Quincy.

They were in a similar state as last night– Hair down, no makeup, in their pajamas with bare feet on the cold linoleum floor, as the one thing that Amir convinced them to do before passing out was to remove their transference suit and combat boots so they were more comfortable. Looking just about as miserable as Arthur, and they’re the one person in this room that hadn’t been injured physically.

Arthur pulled himself up again, seeing them in the doorway. He made his way over to stare them down, not caring how much his leg fucking hurt, fists balled up like he really was intending to punch them.

But he wouldn’t, right? Despite all this, he did care about the Drifter, enough to hear them out even for a moment, right–

No. Not right now.

Surprising Quincy, but not Drifter, Arthur found the strength in him to wind up once he was in range and deck the Drifter right square in the center of the face, sending the time traveler reeling back almost enough to stumble into another set of curtains.

“ARTHUR–” Quincy stepped between Arthur and the Drifter, putting his arms out to stop Arthur from chasing them down further if that was his intention. The fuck, Arthur!?

“Quincy.. It’s. It’s fine.” It sure wasn’t, getting a fistful of swordsteel to the face immediately started making their nose bleed.. “I deserved that.” They said quietly, holding onto their nose and looking just past Quincy’s shoulder to see Arthur glaring between the two of them. Internally, looking at that glare of disbelief Arthur was giving him.. Quincy, you guarding me like that is not helping our case any..

Also hey Arthur, for all you’ve been in denial about this, you sure are acting like Quincy just cheated on you with the Drifter.. Would call that a little victory of sorts if not for the broken nose.

Lettie got back at this point with an armful of snacks for Arthur from the vending machines in tow, just in time to see the Drifter reel back from getting punched in the damn face. “Hey! No violence in my infirmary! What the hell is wrong with you three?!” She said with concern in her voice, looking between the three of them, and apologetically to a few of the civilians who were poking their heads out of their divided areas to see what all the fuss was about. She shoved herself in between Quincy and Arthur, glaring back and forth at them. “Arthur, get your sorry ass back in bed, Quincy, get the fuck out of here. Talk whatever this,” She gestured vaguely between them, “Is out later and not in my fucking infirmary. Drifter– you good, babas?"

The Drifter let out a miserable little chuckle. “Pretty sure he broke my nose, but yeah..”

Lettie let out an exhausted sigh. Another fucking injury to deal with with these three.. “Go back home, I’ll be there to look you over in a few once I get our boss here back. In. Bed.”  

Quincy backed off as soon as he heard the Drifter leave the room, glaring Arthur down as Lettie shoved him bodily back towards his hospital bed. Not hard, given how weak he currently was, both physically and mentally. Just as he turned to leave, Arthur caught Quincy starting to cry before he went as invisible as his lover from last night usually did when they wanted out of a confrontation.

Lettie glared Arthur down until his eyes finally stopped staring at that doorway and back at her. “You’re a real asshole sometimes, you know that, Arthur? Didn’t even let either of them talk, did you?”

“What’s there for them to say–”

Lettie rolled her eyes dramatically. “Arthur. I know you were in and out a few times, caught your eyes opened a bit. You know Quincy was at your side all morning?”

Arthur’s furious expression softened into confusion. That wasn’t a dream?

Lettie continued, ”Drifter practically had to fight him to get him to take his eyes off you for a moment last night and give me space to work on you. As soon as they got his right hand fixed up and I got you patched together, he snuck in past me while I was stitching together a couple of the locals here,” She gestured to one of the civilians as they tucked themself back away to their own beds, “Pulled up that chair right there and sat by your side hovering like a worried husband until he passed the fuck out. Heard him singing that old Brittanian song to you in your sleep, the one about a lover trying to summon their beloved’s ghost?”

That wasn’t a dream..

Arthur’s anger faded back into that haunted, broken expression he had woken up with, when he thought Quincy might be dead. “I.. I remember a bit of that, yes. Thought.. I thought I dreamt that.” He mumbled, staring down at his hands on his lap. 

If he didn’t dream the singing, or Quincy hovering over him like an angel.. Did Quincy.. 

Kiss him on the forehead? 

Who else could that have been.. Certainly not Lettie..

“I barely convinced him to go eat, just before you woke up. Even when I assured him you’d made it through the worst of it, he wouldn’t leave your damn side, even though he got injured too.. Could have been comfy in his bunk, but no, he slept in that folding chair off and on, waking up whenever you started to stir.” Lettie ranted, checking Arthur over again to make sure his stunt there with the Drifter hadn’t popped any of his stitches. “I’ve got no clue what’s going on between you two and Drifter, but that’s no reason to punch them when they were just trying to make sure you were fucking alive, Arthur. Eat. Rest. Then you can make it up to them later after you’re actually good to put weight on that leg.” She said definitively, dumping the collection of snacks she’d brought up for him on his lap, giving him a light slap on his scarred cheek, and then leaving.

Still fucking pissed at the Drifter, but.. Maybe somehow you were in the wrong there, Arthur? He couldn’t quite piece together how, but clearly he fucked up somewhere..

The Drifter walked back into the backroom and immediately went reaching for a relatively clean shop rag, which they held to the streams of blood coming from their nostrils.

Flare’s eyes widened, clocking the smell of blood before they caught that the Drifter had returned so soon after going out to check on Arthur. “Holy shit, Drifter, what happened?!” They rushed downstairs, putting a hand on each of their spouse’s shoulders. 

“Good news! Arthur’s fine.” The Drifter said in a deadpan tone, with a dark little smile. “Him and Quincy were arguing when I got there, before I could get the nerve to say anything he broke my nose.. It’ll be fine. I heal quick. You know that.. Plus, I definitely had that coming.”

Flare growled. “Sugar, no, it’s not–” Ugh, they were afraid confronting him outright like that right after he woke up might turn out like this.. “It’s not fine. You didn’t deserve to get punched by someone who could have done way worse than break your nose if he hit you hard enough.”

Flare had seen what a protoframe– or warframe for that matter-’s bare fists could do to a regular human’s face out on the field against Scaldra.. First hand, too. As in, they’re the one that caved a Scaldra soldier’s skull in with their bare strength that one time..

“C’mon, come sit down..” They dragged the Drifter over to a couch and sat with them, pulling the Drifter into a side-hug and kissing the top of their head. “We talked about this.. You fucked up and forgot to say something important. That’s not some sin you need to atone for by getting your fucking nose broken by one of your friends. That’s just something that happens sometimes. Sure, maybe, maybe that’s what made all this spiral out of control–” Oof, maybe not the best wording given the Drifter’s history with spiraling emotions.. “--But it was still a mistake.”

The Drifter had started to cry again, which sure wasn’t helping the amount of pain their face was currently in. “..Thanks, Flare. Um.. Lettie should be in in a few to uh. Put my nose back together.” They chuckled. “So don’t worry, Arthur didn’t ruin my pretty face.”

Flare rolled their eyes. “For the record, I’ve seen some very cute people that happened to have fucked up, crooked noses from getting punched.” They said with a laugh, ruffling the Drifter’s hair a bit. “Try again later when his emotions have had time to mellow out. Hopefully Quincy will have the sense to do the same.” Flare doubted that, but they still hoped..

Not sure on that front, but Drifter wasn’t about to go figure out where he went after all that.. Both their spouses’ voices rang in their head, thinking of how much they wanted to go back out there, find Quincy, drum up some kind of plan of attack on how to approach explaining all this to Arthur..

Both Amir and Flare told them several times over the course of the day, in various ways, while the Drifter was between bouts of sleep and asking either of them if they knew Arthur was awake or not, “You don’t have to fix everything. That’s not your job, especially not with this, especially not now. Even if any of this was your fault, you got hurt, too, even just with the equivalent of a stray shot.”

They didn’t believe that until right now, when they did actually physically get hurt. Void, Quincy, how are we going to patch this up if Arthur’s this passionate about this that he came out swinging like that..

Again, though, little victories? That means he did give a fuck very significantly that Quincy and Drifter had sex.

..Very not the point at the moment, but Drifter desperately hoped that when they do explain, if Quincy and Arthur do get together..

Their tears intensified, leaning their bruised and broken face into Flare’s shoulder. 

Gods, they felt so greedy again wanting this, but they desperately hoped that Arthur could find it in him to be okay with Quincy and them doing that again sometime.. If only so that night wasn’t the last memory either of them had of being intimate with one another.

Chapter Text

Late that night, the Drifter made their way quietly into their loft. Their partners were sleeping up there in a small pile on a couch, especially Amir, who had finally passed out into a deep, deep sleep after all the stress of the previous night, with Lizzie draped over him like a strangely shaped weighted blanket. The Drifter leaned over and gently shook Flare awake, hoping that doing so wouldn’t also wake their symbiotic partner. 

Flare grumbled a bit as they woke up. “Hey..” They whispered up to the Drifter, tired eyes examining their Angel’s softly nervous expression.. And all the bruising that could be seen just past the splint holding their nose together. In another life, ironically when both parties would have been a lot less sturdy, they would have had half a mind to go make Arthur match.. “Everything alright, Angel?”

“Hey.. Um. Lettie let Arthur go, apparently the fracture in his leg repaired itself pretty quick, mostly anyway..” The Drifter spoke quietly, trying their best not to wake their soundly sleeping wives, both the protoframe and the guitar. “I.. I got Arthur’s guns retuned and Quincy’s hand fixed up–”

Flare sighed. Drifter promised they wouldn’t overwork themself– were those fixes simpler than they looked, or did they push themself again?

Drifter grimaced, realizing that Flare had caught onto how much they’d been working after they and Amir went to bed. “-Promise I ate and everything, uh. Anyway, Arthur’s down in his security station.. Would you.. Mind coming with me so I can drop his kit off and maybe smooth some things over?”

Flare nodded. “Of course, baby. I promised I’d back you up.” They very carefully removed themself off the Duviri lounge, trying not to shift either of their sleeping companions. “Lead on, I’ve got your back.”

Arthur was sitting at his desk in his personal quarters, lit only by the light of his Pom-2 screen showing Quincy’s KIM profile. He’d been sitting there around half an hour at this point, trying to formulate any way to start off what he wanted to say.. 

With a few hours of hindsight, he definitely overreacted. If not to the Drifter arriving so soon, then to Quincy guarding them. Of course Quincy stood in his way– whatever else was happening between them, Marty’s his best friend, and even with a bum shoulder you hit them hard, Arthur. And it was too easy to forget sometimes that they were the one member of the Hex that didn’t just bounce back from something like that. They healed faster than the average person, but not enough where getting a steel fist to the face was a simple thing to come back from.

And they’re your friend too, Arthur. They looked genuinely concerned for you, below the obvious guilt they felt over the situation. 

He’d typed and backspaced conversation starters, or entire paragraphs of text to Quincy about a dozen times by now, if not more.

Starting with hello feels wrong, but jumping right into it feels too aggressive.

Wanted to say sorry, but where to even start on that.

Any sorry and explanation for what he blew up on Quincy about earlier would require admitting he loved him, and Arthur didn’t want to say that over text, but he also couldn’t work up the nerve to go up and just talk to him face to face..

Related to blowing up; this is why you’re alone, Arthur. When your emotions boil over, things get ugly. Even just that moment of frustration at Aoi’s music before you ran off should have been enough to break up with you over, and you and Quincy argue a lot.

Would that change, if he did feel for you? Would you two finally mellow out? Or will you screw this up immediately and confirm, finally, that you’ll be alone forever?

Fuck..

A knock at the door made him jump a bit, and quickly shut Quincy’s KIM window. Flare of all people's voice resounded from the other side; “Hey Arthur, you in there? Wanna talk to you.”

Just Flare, or..? Shit, they were probably pissed off at you about Drifter’s nose, rightfully so. Lettie had confirmed to him that he had broken it, quite badly at that.. “Come in.”

The door opened, and Drifter stepped in first, with Flare close behind. They didn’t shut the door behind them all the way, just left it at a crack. Flare knew Drifter would feel trapped in if they did shut it, and that was just about one of the worst emotional states they could think to put their poor angel in at the moment.

Drifter awkwardly waved. “Hey Arthur..” They gingerly stepped in and set Arthur’s guns out on the desk beside him. “I um.. I got your guns cleaned up, and the parts that broke when you got hit are all replaced. I haven’t tested them out yet because I think Quincy’s sleeping? So give them a try before you go out. I’d hate to see you get hurt because of.. A.. Mistake I made.” Drifter’s eyes flitted awkwardly to the bandages that were still around Arthur’s arm and shoulder. 

Arthur sat there silent, staring the Drifter down before making eye contact with Flare, who was leaning up against the wall nearby, glaring at him so harshly he thought he might catch flame from over here. Ooh, they are pissed.. Well, at least they didn’t bring Lizzie. He turned to the Drifter, giving a thankful nod. “..Much appreciated, Drifter. You didn’t have to.”

On that, Flare and Arthur could agree.

Feeling Flare’s intense gaze still on him, Arthur chipped away at that brick wall of his to get out a slightly stilted, if genuine apology. “And I’m.. Really sorry about your nose, Marty. I don’t know what came over me. I shouldn’t have done that.” He sighed. “I’m still pissed at you.. But I shouldn’t have done that. I’m.. Guessing that’s why you have Flare with you.”

“What? To make sure you’re not going to hit them again?” Flare said, stepping closer to be right at the Drifter’s side. “Yes. Partially, anyway..” They were also here in case Drifter froze up, and they needed someone to finish their thought for them; also to give their own testimony of the situation at hand here.

“It’s.. It’s alright. I shouldn’t have.. I shouldn’t have done a lot of things in the past 24 hours.” The Drifter chuckled. “I should’ve given you your space.”

“Still wasn’t fair of me to not even try and hear you out. So.. I’m guessing you have some sort of explanation for what the hell is going on around here?” With Quincy and them, Arthur left unspoken. Still put a bitter taste to his tongue.

Drifter nodded. “I’m really sorry, I don’t know what got into me last night, that chaotic bug of mine got to me I guess? I.. To confirm, yes, me and Quincy.. Me and Quincy had sex last night.” 

Arthur visibly sank into himself, hearing that outright; shoulders slumping down and head falling forward to look down at his feet. “Yeah, I figured as much.. I get it. You two are close, have been for a while.. I’m sure you’ll be happy together. He’ll fit right in with all that chaos you have going on back there–”

“Arthur. Let them talk. It’s not like that.” Flare practically growled, cutting Arthur off before he said anything else harmful to Drifter or himself. Relatedly, Drifter froze up hearing that.. “Should I explain, Angel?”

Drifter shook their head. “No, no.. I should. Um..” Drifter pulled another chair over that was sitting at the side and sat down so they were at Arthur’s eye level. “This is.. Going to be an awkward explanation and I’m sorry about that, but uh.. You’re.. Aware that Eleanor sleeps around.. Casually sometimes, right?”

Hell of an approach to.. Whatever this is. Arthur looked up somewhat curiously, narrowing his eyes at Drifter. Where is this going.. “Yeah. I know she has a.. Casual attitude to that sort of thing, sees it as a good morale boost, fooling around with friends. And I know she and Aoi and- Lettie, I think? Have gone off fairly frequently recently to one of their rooms for ‘girls night’,” Very big air quotes there, “And not the kind they invite Minerva, Kaya, Amir or either of you to–”

Drifter awkwardly cleared their throat. “Ah. About that..” Unfortunately part of this explanation is also ‘Hey Arthur, I fucked your sister’, huh.. “It’s.. A pretty recent development, but I.. Also do that?” They pulled the neckline of the shirt they were wearing down a bit to show the still-fading marks made by Eleanor’s teeth. “These weren’t exactly made by Flare. N-Not this time anyway.”

Thankfully Arthur at this point of the day had enough sense to keep this an inside thought– ‘Oh look Arthur, it’s so much better, not only have I fucked the man you’re madly in love with, but I fucked your ex and/or your twin sister, too!’

Flare could see the confused frustration building in Arthur again. “What they’re trying to say is what happened between them and Quincy was platonic, Arthur.”

Ah. Arthur's face visibly softened. Still confused as all hell, but..

Drifter nodded. “Still some really shit timing on my part, won’t deny that, but uh. Yeah. I don’t love him– Well, like that anyway. I had put the offer on the table for him, then came and talked with you.. He came and found me a couple hours later, we went and talked in his bunk.. Things I’m not going to share, sorry– that’s for him to say. I promised him.”

“Fair– Fair enough.” Arthur said, relaxing back in his seat a bit and resting his chin on one hand. Shit timing, yes, agreed, but some things were starting to click into place..

“And, well.. After that we had sex, yes.” And again, Drifter truly hoped that wouldn’t be the last time, or else at the very least they knew their memory of being with Quincy like that would be.. Stained, somewhat, with the guilt of all that happened around it. 

Arthur finished that thought, “But he’s the one that approached you for it, after we talked.”

Drifter nodded to confirm.

Flare sighed, resolving to be the one to detangle the rest of this; “And you might be wondering well, why hadn’t they mentioned any of that beforehand? Well. No offense to your friendship with Drifter, Arthur, but it genuinely slipped their mind that you didn’t know.”

Ah. 

“Yeah that was.. I was getting to that. Sorry, it’s um. Pretty embarrassing, especially with all that happened because of it.” The Drifter said, giving a bashful little half-smile. “Um. If it makes you feel any better, Quincy also didn’t know I did that until yesterday evening, and you know how much we share with each other on an average basis.. Like I said, this is a. Pretty recent development in my.. Love life, I suppose, and I’m clearly still a bit.. Fumbling at it. It genuinely slipped my mind that you didn’t know at all that I did that since, y’know, we really don’t talk about that kind of thing, and also since that offer wouldn’t exactly be extended to you–”

“-Because. My sister’s much more of your type. Makes. Makes sense.” Arthur said, staring off blankly as all the pieces fell into place in his head. Most of them anyway. “..Shit, now I really do feel like a real fucking knobhead for breaking your nose like that.”

Good, he recognises that. Flare wasn’t going to say that, wasn’t going to rub it in further no matter how much they really fucking wanted to right now. Was going to say this, though; “Oh, you two really are such a mess, aren’t you.. Feels like old times.” Flare chuckled, thinking of a time they had to mediate for a vaguely similar mess between a couple of their bandmates. 

Drifter chuckled. “We really are, aren’t we.. Similar way too, no wonder–” Almost said something they just said they weren’t going to, there. ‘No wonder Quincy loves us both, we’re both the same kind of emotional bear trap’. 

Arthur raised an eyebrow at the Drifter just sort of cutting themself off there, but he wasn’t going to pry. Not right now. “..I don’t know what else to say, honestly, other than I’m sorry. I.. Still fuck you for whipping me up like that-”

“Yeah, yeah that’s fair. I went. A good bit harder than I should have, sorry.”

Arthur cut back in, “-But, I’m sorry. Genuinely. Not exactly giving a leaderly example by exploding on you like that without clarifying what even happened.. Um. Relatedly to all of this.." Fuck it, might as well rip this bandage off too, while he's got it in his head.. Definitely not going to write the perfect confession on KIM, and it's going to eat him alive worse than that babau that tried to just sitting here knowing Quincy's pissed with him.. "Where’s Quincy?”

Flare raised an eyebrow. Finally getting somewhere with that? You about to go make a reckless move again, soldier?

“Up in his bunk, I’m pretty sure? I dunno if he’s awake or not though.” Drifter said, also looking intently at Arthur, trying to get any idea of what he might be planning. 

“..No pressure, but I heard you were fixing his hand?” They brought in his guns, was that just a peace gesture, or did they get his hand done and still wanted to keep busy?

Drifter nodded. “You want to bring it to him? The damage looked bad but I’m pretty sure it just popped out of the connectors badly, I got it done earlier. He shouldn’t need me to help him put it back on, but I suppose let me know if that’s not the case?”

Arthur nodded surprisingly enthusiastically. “Yeah, I’d like to. Give it over to me and then you can get some real rest. You look like you’ve had a real rough time of it, and you’re not the one who had about a third of your torso skin replaced.” Arthur chuckled, standing up from his chair carefully. He was safe to walk, but the leg still hurt quite badly. For once that wasn’t him heroically rejecting pain killers, either, Lettie was very low and those always go to civilians first, protoframes after.

“Alright, I’ll go bring it out to you.” Drifter walked out, grabbing Flare’s hand to walk hand-in-hand with them on their way back around and up to the backroom with Arthur. ”Good luck with.. Are you going to tell him?” They looked over at Arthur, who still very much looked like he was pondering something.

Arthur hesitantly nodded. “I’m.. I’m not sure how, but.. Yes. I think.. I think I am.”

The Drifter and Flare stepped into the backroom and the Drifter returned with Quincy’s repaired left arm and forearm in hand, which they placed in Arthur's grasp. “Remember– Worst he can say is no. Even after all this.”

“..To my confession, anyway, I’m guessing he’s going to curse me out for what I did to you.. And some shit I said to him, that apparently you overheard.” Arthur said, carefully taking the prosthetic into his hands. It wasn’t a delicate thing, but suddenly Arthur did feel like he was carrying a very expensive vase or something of the like. That’s part of him..

“Yeah, uh. Whole infirmary overheard that and uh.. Probably a lot of the rest of the mall, too, honestly.”

Arthur chuckled in deep embarrassment. “Real soap opera act we’ve been putting on for the civvies past couple of days.. Thank you, Drifter. I’ll.. Well I guess you’ll find out whether this goes poorly or not fairly quickly; I’m guessing he’ll be storming down your KIM if we were wrong.”

“I’m pretty sure that we’re not, but.. Good luck anyway.” The Drifter smiled, giving Arthur a pat on his non injured shoulder. The one that sustained a lot less damage, anyway. “Good night and good luck, A. I believe in you– there’s a romantic bone in your body yet, I’m sure of it.”

The Drifter watched Arthur walk off towards Quincy’s corner of the mall, then returned into the backroom, where they immediately gave Flare a kiss on the lips. Ow. Ran their nose into Flare’s in the process, too. “Thanks, honey, I was.. Really afraid to face him alone.” They quietly chuckled.

Flare gave them a soft smile, laying a kiss on their lips at a slightly more careful angle. “Of course, I don’t blame you. Now c’mon, let’s both get to bed. We’ll either wake up to more drama or a new happy couple, and that’s for them to decide.” They said quietly, grabbing Drifter’s hand and gently dragging them back up to the loft, where the two of them curled up on a couch together, given that Amir and Lizzie had spread themselves out a bit more across that lounge in Flare’s absence.

Chapter Text

Quincy was awake. He had been the whole time, actually; too angry after the argument he had with Arthur to find the peace to be able to sleep, and then when that anger started to mellow even a bit, the lingering anxiety from the previous night crept in.

Despite the fact he knew Arthur was alive, and fine, physically anyway, he kept having to remind himself that he was for some fucking reason.. Not gonna walk out there and find him dead, or dying. He's fine.

He had also been staring down his Pom-2 for some time now, with Arthur’s chat window open. And like Arthur, he had no clue where to start, especially since he knew his typing would be slow in comparison to Arthur due to the lack of his left fingers, even with his usual shorthand typing style.

Along with. All of the emotions he was tooling over. He did have feelings for Arthur, truly, and wanted to make them finally known, but.. Quincy couldn’t just lead with that, especially not after what Arthur did and said right after he woke up from that near-death sleep.. Not just to Drifter, but to him. 

Shit, Drifter was offline, too, so can’t run any ideas by them.. 

Worst of all, after a good few minutes staring down that little blinking line in the message box, he saw he wasn’t alone.

Broadsword is typing…

He just kept typing too. The fuck all is he about to send over, an entire novel– He stopped.

And just stayed there without sending anything for.. Felt like forever, but it was only a couple of minutes. Then, again,

Broadsword is typing…

Repeat that again and again over the course of half a damn hour, off and on like he kept either stopping or deleting what he typed.

Just. Send something, Arthur.

Anything.

What the fuck are you thinking over there..

Broadsword has gone offline.

Shit.

Quincy let out a sigh, and also closed his end of the window. Going to have to do this in person, then.. He glanced for the door..

No.. Tomorrow. One too many reckless conversations recently, not gonna start another.

Quincy got up from his desk chair and walked over to his bed, slumping back. Ow. Regretted that slightly. A few of the deepest wounds he got last night were still healing a bit. His eyes closed, though he was anything but restful at the moment.

The fuck was any of that earlier. The way Arthur was acting, you’d think that Quincy was cheating on him with the Drifter or some shit, especially with that glare he gave when Quincy protected them.. Quincy expected Arthur to be broken up about what he’d correctly assumed, but that was so fucking much, Arthur.. Hardly got the chance to even think to express how much he was glad Arthur was alive before he started getting riled up again.

Tears started to well through Quincy’s eyelashes, and he could feel that burn down the back of his throat like he was about to cry.

When Arthur was asleep, he had gone over this whole little routine in his head thinking of how he’d confess when he woke up. All that crumbled the moment he stepped through that doorway.

Sure, Quincy didn’t approach that situation great either, in hindsight– shouldn’t have led with asking him why he’d gone out there alone, not that angrily, either, not with both of them raw. But that was just it, wasn’t it. They were both raw, and started poking at each other's open wounds.. Pretty frequent occurrence, that. Not as much recently, but still..

Then Drifter showed up, or showed themself, rather.. Wasn’t hard to see why they did that. Arthur was about to blow up on Quincy for real over them, they didn’t want Quincy to take any of the heat from that. So of course they showed themself. And of course they didn’t get pissed at Arthur when he smashed their pretty face in like that.

Fuck. Fuck–

There was a knock at the door- a few taps of the knuckle, solid, but somehow hesitant. And no voice to go with it, just silence..

Arthur had been considering his approach on the way over. No backing out now, Nightingale..  Drifter will be so disappointed if you chicken out of this. You'll be disappointed if you chicken out of this.

Where to start. Sorry for running out like that and almost getting myself killed? Sorry I didn’t ask any clarifying questions about what was going on between you and Drifter?

Sorry for yelling, for hitting Marty like that, please believe me that they forgave me?

..Sorry I’m just fucking like this? 

It wasn’t a long walk.. So Arthur stood there in front of his door for a good long while, grasping onto Quincy’s own hand.. 

He started crying, and there was no screwing his eyes up, no blinking back, no wishing them away that would make the tears stop. 

With all the vitriol that was in him about Drifter’s involvement stripped away by that conversation with Flare and them, everything came into a painful amount of clarity.

Arthur– Quincy dove out there, dove down with you, risked his own life to save you for nothing in return.

Sat by your bed as you slept, even with his own wounds. Risked a fight with Lettie just to stay by you.

Hovered over you like an angel, sang to you in your sleep and–

You can still.. Just barely.. Feel Quincy’s lips, pressing against your forehead.. His fingers brushing your hair out of your face.

And then you came back to life and immediately slammed his face into a brick wall. Like you always do.

..No backing out. C’mon, Nightingale. You’ve fought in wars, you're leading the guard against an angry, cosmic god, you can admit you fucked up.

Among. Admitting several other things..

Arthur let out a deep sigh, hesitantly raised his hand up to the door, and gave a few knocks. Couldn’t bring himself to make it known it was him standing there by following that with any spoken word. Hopefully he was awake..?

As he heard some shuffling on the other side of the door, he could feel his heart rate raise. Remember what Drifter said, Arthur. Worst he can say is no.. Worst he can say is no.. Right? Worst he can say is no..

Quincy opened the door, expecting to see anyone else on the other side. Amir or Flare up late worried about the Drifter come to ask him to talk to them. Drifter themself. Aoi. Probably not Eleanor, she always let herself be known whether she intended to or not. A very tired Lettie, come to make sure that Quincy’s wounds were healing better than Arthur’s were. Maybe Velimir.

But not him. Just standing there, with a thousand yard stare, bloodshot eyes and tracks of tears running down his cheeks.

Tiniest flicker of affection came into Quincy’s head; thank Sol the Efervon missed that handsome face of his.. There's enough scars there as is.

Quincy’s eyebrows furrowed, looking Arthur up and down– Noting that he was holding his hand.. “Arthur–”

“Please, can I come in. I don’t want to do this where anyone else can hear. I beg of you.” Arthur said, just barely choking back sobs, looking anywhere but Quincy’s face.

Shit, he’s really crying, isn’t he.. Quincy’d never seen him cry quite like this. A teary eye here and there, but not broken down like this. Not even after he and Aoi broke it off– not in front of anyone, at least.

Arthur would hate to hear this, but Quincy’s mind went to a little anecdote Eleanor had told him about their father, once. Seemed really tough on the surface, but cried easy– just not around anyone else.

Quincy let out a sigh and obliged, rotating himself in the doorway to let Arthur through, and then shutting the door. Didn’t lock it. Let Arthur have a quick means of escape if he feels like he needs it. 

Arthur slumped his way through the door and past Quincy; still with a noticeable limp in that right leg. He set Quincy’s hand down on his desk, then just.. Stood there. Still locked up. Thousand ways to start this in his head, none of them coming out.

Sol, you’re bloody useless, Nightingale..

Quincy walked around to face Arthur. Would cross his arms, but, that would require putting the left one back on and that took a bit of focus to do that he didn’t have right now. “So.. You clearly want to talk. Spit it out, then, before I start askin' questions.”

Silence. Nothing. Just more tears and a deep gulp that visibly moved Arthur’s Adam's apple even past all the swordsteel.

Maybe unwise to word it like this given what happened earlier, but.. “I’m not gonna hit you, Arthur. Just.. Say whatever you have to say–”

Arthur finally cracked. Fuck all the options he’d gone through in his head. Fuck all the scripts he had going in his head of how this conversation could go, “I was. So fucking afraid that you died.”

Quincy shut right up, eyes going wide. Not where he expected Arthur to start..

“I.. I woke up a few times, couldn’t really.. Parse what was happening. Drugs Lettie had me on, probably. Uh.. Heard. Heard Drifter talking about.. Printing parts. Taking care of you, while Lettie handled me.. About how they.” A whole new wave of tears came down, thinking of this– “How they weren’t confident enough to.. Replace something major?” He finally looked up to Quincy’s face. “I um.. I suppose, now, in hindsight, they were talking about me, weren’t they.”

Quincy gave a slow nod, glancing away. About to cry himself thinking about that morning.. “You uh.. Breathed in a lot of gas. Ate your lungs right up. Lettie was afraid your technocytes might not be able to fix it before.. Before we..” Quincy took a deep, sharp breath in. “Before we would've lost you.”

“I.. I’m sorry. For.. For putting all you through that.” Shit. Arthur knew he’d been bad off, wondered if he was seeing an angel after all, but Lettie hadn’t told him just how close he was to suddenly waking up on New Years day again.. Or whatever one of them would experience if they died here. “..I thought. I thought they were talking about you, Quincy. I didn’t see how badly you got injured out east, so I thought I’d– I thought we’d lost you, when I woke up and you weren’t in the infirmary with me. Then you just.. Walked right in like nothing happened.” He let out a breathy chuckle through his tears. “Never been happier to see your face..”

Quincy caught that adjustment to his sentence, there.. “Hell of a way to show it, with you practically yelling at me the moment I started talking. Not to mention fucking Drifter's face up. You could've really fucking hurt them if you had your whole strength, you know.”

Arthur flinched as if that physically hurt. Relatedly, shit, his knee is starting to hurt standing here.. Not going to sit though. Didn’t quite feel welcome enough in here to do that. He shifted his weight uncomfortably, leaning his hip against Quincy’s desk. “I’m.. I’m really, truly sorry about that. I wouldn’t blame you for not believing me, but I just got back from a uh.. Similar conversation with Drifter. They. Didn't quite forgive me, but we talked it out and they, ah.. Explained a lot of things.”

Quincy eyed his hand on the desk behind Arthur. Wouldn’t believe him on that outright except for the fact Drifter had evidently given their fix job to Arthur to deliver himself. Peace offering? Or did Drifter mean to give that as proof they'd worked things out with him?

“I have no excuse for treating them or you like that. Not even the pain, or.. Whatever else. I’m sorry.” Oh Sol, Arthur, here we go, there’s no way to talk about any of the why you were angry there without bringing up the topic that’s both devouring you alive and that you never want to bring up ever. 

“..Can’t say I forgive you yet, but.. I.. Appreciate it. And you makin’ it up with Drifter, apparently.” Quincy tilted his head a bit, trying to get a good look at Arthur’s eyes as the other soldier was just sort of staring at the ground again. “..Lettie tell you where I was that whole time?” Might as well.. Start sliding this direction. Maybe that’s why he’s so damn awkward right now, trying to bring up how strange he feels about you hovering over his side like that. 

Arthur nodded. “You were.. At my side all morning, she said. And that you refused to come and sleep back here, slept in one of those shitty folding chairs.”

“Barely, at that.. Woke up every time you made a little sound, I think. Had me jumpier than when those balloons start poppin’ out of nowhere.” Quincy said with a bit of a smirk. 

“..Why? Why stay by me like that? Why.. Why’d you..” Arthur’s brow furrowed, remembering seeing Quincy drop down that hole and immediately spring to save him. Even got in close, when he probably could have shot down that babau from across the room.. “Why’d you save me like that?”

“..Why do I always save you?” Quincy said softly, his gaze wandering over Arthur’s shoulder to a photo pinned up on a smaller board above his desk, hidden among so many others.

It was taken not long after Arthur, Lettie and him joined the ICR. Not a group photo, not commemorating anything, just a candid shot of Arthur, smiling at Aoi, whose at the time bright pink hair could be seen just at the edge of the frame. Arthur hardly ever smiled, especially back then. So snap a photo and make it last longer, right? Make that last forever, even if it'll never be shown your way.

“I.. I truly don’t know. I.. I don’t know why you followed me when I got discharged, or why you agreed to join the ICR with me. I don’t know why you followed me to this hellhole or why..” Arthur trailed off, thinking of that accidentally shared memory again from the Drifter’s mind. Thinking of one of the times he went back there; standing there where Quincy did on New Years, a bouquet of scavenged flowers from cracks in the road and people’s abandoned gardens in his arms, thinking up a eulogy for his friend who was still alive. 

Quincy finally closed the distance between him and Arthur, stopping just a couple of feet from him. “Why’d I ever come back on New Years, when I could’ve kept on runnin’?”

"Yeah.." Arthur mumbled, still looking pointedly away from Quincy’s face. “That.. You got killed, doing that, and worse than, that got you trapped here..”

“Eh, probably would’ve gotten turned to dust anyway, even across the mountains.” Quincy shrugged nonchalantly. “And I don’t exactly think Drifter’s little time travel act has a range.. Moment I stabbed my leg with that serum I got fucked into this, I figure. We all were..”

Arthur bit his lip and nodded in agreement. He knew that. They both- they all knew that by now. Or at least it was the clearest theory they had, given Entrati’s continued absence. “Still, though, Quincy– Why? All I’ve ever done is fuck you over. And yet you keep going out of your way for me, for.. A reason I can't explain.”

Quincy scoffed. “Forgettin’ the time you saved my ass, when I did try and leave you behind.”

“Yes, and you’ve repaid that to me a thousand times by now, Quincy! Anything you owe me has been paid in full and then some."

Quincy dramatically rolled his eyes. “I’m not still here because of some debt, you muppet. That was part of it for a long, long time, yeah, but certainly not anymore. I wouldn’t give this place up for anything, not even that.. Fuckin’ daft old dream of mine. And..” Quincy’s voice softened further, sounding.. Almost a bit affectionate? ”There’s. Kind of always been another reason, that I’ve not wanted to admit.”

Arthur’s eyes, mostly dried by now but still blood shot to hell, very slowly traced up to Quincy’s face in disbelief. Was.. He going where you think he’s going, Nightingale?

Quincy stood in silence for a few moments longer, looking over Arthur’s expression. It looks like the insinuation might finally be sinking in, but fuck, you do actually have to say the words, Quincy, and it’s not like there’s a good deflection, certainly not one you’d take with Arthur bearing his heart to you like this. “..You said you woke up a few times, this morning. Just when Drifter and Lettie were plannin’ on how to fix you up, or..?”

“I– No, I.. I think I woke a bit later. Though I thought it was a dream.. I saw.. I saw you staring down at me. Thought..” Oh Sol, this is getting close to the heart of this, but there’s no way to not address this at some point now.. “I thought I was seeing a bloody angel looking down at me.. That you’d crossed over to Lua before me, but still looking down from your perch at me like you always do..” 

He called you an angel.. Somewhat indirectly, but. Oh gods, Quincy, this is starting to feel like one of those moments in a romance novel where you’re staring down at the page internally screaming ‘Just. KISS HIM ALREADY!’ 

Quincy nodded to confirm. "Wasn't a dream.. Looked over you until I passed out. I’m no nurse but.. Was keepin’ an eye on your breathin’, I told myself. To call out for Lettie if your condition turned for the worse..”

“Did– You’re probably going to laugh..” Lettie told him he did this, but it was still utterly unbelievable in his head, “Did you sing to me?”

Quincy did laugh, briefly. Just a single bit of a chuckle, and a warm, slightly embarrassed smile that Arthur could have swore made his heart skip a beat. Quincy took a deep breath, and repeated himself from earlier. Was probably going to get hell for the fact that he really did memorize the whole thing.. Again, a bit off key but absolutely beautiful to Arthur’s ears,

“I’ll do as much for my true love, as any young man may.. I’ll sit and moan down by his grave, for a twelve-month and a day.. When twelve months and one day was past, his ghost began to speak; ‘Why dost thou sit upon my grave and will not let me sleep?’”

Finally, revenge for that karaoke night back in the ICR, a huge chill went down Arthur’s spine as he stood there, dumbfounded, with wide eyes staring into the reflective lenses of Quincy’s.

Despite how much he’d fucked up, today, last night, ever, Quincy was giving him the warmest smile Arthur had ever seen on his face..

“I save your ass every single gods-damned time because I love you, Arthur.” Quincy practically whispered, getting in close enough that Arthur could feel his breath against his face. “And I will keep saving your ass as long as I can help it. I understand.. If you don’t feel the same, but–”

Arthur started crying again. “Even with how much of a fuck-up I am? All the times I’ve pissed you off and we’ve gotten into a screaming match?”

Drifter, you were right? Quincy nodded confidently. “I just said that after the shit you pulled earlier, didn’t I?”

Fair.. Fair enough.. “Even though I’ll probably fuck up again?”

“You’re not the man you used to be, Arthur. You still piss me the hell off sometimes, but..” Quincy gestured to Arthur vaguely, “See? You’re here fixin’ it now. Didn’t even put it off for days on end.”

Arthur rolled his eyes a bit at that last part. His breathing, still a bit painful, started to quicken along with his heart rate. Sol in heaven, is this happening?! Or did you die and this is some last merciful dream of a life you wanted to live? ..Or some kind of dream you’ll wake up from to find that Quincy’s rightfully still pissed off at you.. “..Even though I ended you up in this hell?”

“Like I said. Wouldn’t trade this place for the world, not anymore. You didn’t force me to leave that tent and follow you to the ends of the gods-damned earth, Arthur. I chose that.”

“Even with–”

Quincy cut in before he could find some other reason to cut himself down, “I love you, Arthur. Stop tryin’ to find reasons why I don’t.”

“..I.. I love you too, Quincy.” Arthur finally pushed that out of himself, and so much else flowed out with it, “You’re so fucking handsome, and so bloody kind even when you don’t want anyone else to see it. Keenest eye in this whole city, I don’t know what I’d ever do without you and I was so fucking scared I’d lost you because I ran off like a gods-damned idiot, jealous Marty and you would be alone on a battlefield. Jealous seeing them walk off with you like they were your prize for the night, after they told me you just might fucking love me..” He was absolutely blubbering with tears at this point, all of his usual stiff upper lip bravado melted away with those four words Quincy’d said twice now.

Quincy was stunned for a moment, but then let out a well-meant chuckle. “Sol, they really did play Cupid with us, didn’t they? Can’t knock the results though. Got there eventually, eh?” He put his hand up to Arthur’s face as any attempt to ground him, thumbing away tears from the lightning scars on his cheek. “..Should you be standin’ on that leg of yours? I see you shiftin’ back and forth and I don’t think that’s just because you’re feelin’ as awkward as a teenage girl admitting she has a crush. Or maybe that last part's just me.”

Arthur let out a bit of a chuckle, leaning his cheek into Quincy’s touch. “It.. It really hurts, yeah. I didn’t want to sit because I was afraid you’d kick me out.” He said just above a whisper, turning his face to lay a kiss on Quincy’s palm.

“C’mon then, babe–”

Oh, that made Arthur’s heart melt. Already so soon and he’s bringing the pet names out. Still sure you aren’t dreaming, Nightingale?

“-come sit your pretty ass down, take a load off. We both need the rest after all this shit.” Quincy said, walking over to his bed. Wasn’t quite sure how far his new stoic lover– oh, that had his stomach fluttering even calling him that in his head– wanted to go with this, especially with those wounds, but it was the most comfortable spot in the room. He sat down and looked expectantly through half-lidded eyes to see if Arthur would follow.

Arthur did, first grabbing Quincy’s hand off the table behind him, then sitting deliberately on Quincy’s left side. “..Can I help you put this back on?”

Quincy nodded, offering up the bare connecting edge of his left elbow. Drifter had at least cleaned that up enough to make this fairly simple, before their scattered attention that morning took them elsewhere. “Lucky me, gettin’ fixed up by a king with help of a time travelling matchmaker.”

Arthur’s pale cheeks visibly started going pink. Oh no, Arthur, you’ve heard Quincy flirting. He was about to lay it on thick, wasn’t he.. Arthur examined both ends of the connection and started the intimate work of replacing Quincy’s hand, which slowly started to spark to life as Quincy regained full feeling and control of it. “Pretty sure you’re the one more deserving of that title, with me as your loyal knight.. The blade at your side into eternity.”

Eternity? Awful fast there, lover boy. Though, time loop. Understandable for an intense mind like his to go right there.. “Mmm.. Don’t mind the sound of King Quincy instead of Quincy-K.” He said with a wide, smug grin, watching Arthur delicately slot his limb back into place. That grin that always either pissed Arthur off or that set his blood pumping in a.. Very different way. Or both. “Nothing saying there can’t be room for two kings here.. Unless you like the idea of being at King Q’s beck and call, you dashing thing?” Arthur always strayed away or glared at the obvious jokes about his name and now his batch, but if he was leaning into it, might as well push a bit farther, see if that gets him excited?

Arthur cleared his throat, as that pink flush started to spread to his ears. Arthur wasn’t inherently a prude but gods, talk about a 180 from the beginning of this conversation.. “I’ll. We can. Talk about that later.” Didn’t sound like a bad setup, honestly– “Uh. Somewhat relatedly, I’m very sorry for the way I reacted to you and Drifter, they seemed.. Downright heartbroken, thinking about it when they came to talk to me a bit ago.” He got the last connection in place, and Quincy took his arm back.

“No, uh. Other than the punching them part, I understand.. I’d say sorry it slipped our minds, but I didn’t know you two had talked. Seems like Drifter was trying to get the two of us to do this,” Quincy spun his newly re-attached index finger in the air to gesture to this whole scene they’d made, “Without just directly admitting either of us had admitted we had feelings to them..”

“They uh. Thinking about it, they did say they.. Just wanted me to be happy.” Arthur said, spacing off a bit. “Perhaps. A bit quick, but I did want to clarify, now that I’ve had a bit of time to consider; I’m fine if you want to.. Have fun with them, sometimes, so to speak.”

Quincy’s whole sultry bedroom eye performance cracked as his eyes went wide. “Really?! And not just because you feel like a bastard about that whole situation. I'm not accepting any of the self-martyr business in this bedroom.”

Arthur gave a confident nod. “I’m busy a lot, it’s clearly good for your morale, and I.. I trust you. Both of you. I’m not the sort to do that myself but doesn’t mean I can’t have an open mind to it?”

Shit, okay. Noting that to tell Drifter later, they were really beating themself up about that.. Probably still were, if Quincy knew anything about them. “To focus around back to us, beautiful..” Quincy dropped his voice to a sultry tone, returning back to that flirty, half-lidded expression. 

Arthur’s scruffy, eternally serious face?! Beautiful?! 

“..How far you want to go tonight? I’m definitely about to make up for years of not being able to kiss that mug of yours unless you really don’t want to, but I dunno how much farther you’d wanna push.. After all, you’re still hurt, and we both need sleep, but.." He got a downright cheshire grin on his face, as a storm of dirty thoughts he'd had saved up for a long time about Arthur started to spring to mind. "I’m up for something reckless that should only get us yelled at by Lettie? You said you were the blade at my side..” Quincy rested his left hand on Arthur’s thigh, rubbing a firm thumb over his muscles. Good work fixing this up, Drifter, all the feeling and articulation’s back. Good. Gonna need that. “..Just the skana, or d’you have another blade you’d be willin’ to have at my disposal tonight, knight Arthur?”

“Seconding the. Wanting to make up for a lot of missed time.” Arthur looked from those soft lips of Quincy’s, down to the hand on his thigh, then back up at his new lover’s eyes. “..Whatever blade of mine you have need of is yours.” He said, matching Quincy’s sultry tone and expression with one of his own.

Quincy’s eyes immediately seemed to sparkle in the low light of his bedroom. Oh shit, Quincy– Last time to think of Drifter tonight– Drifter’s little dancing vocal filter fell right off the moment their clothes did. Was that also a point of personality Arthur and they shared? Because it seemed likely, with Arthur going along with that double-entendre. “Now we’re talkin’ my language, babe. C’mere, let’s get cozier, so I can kiss those lips right off your face. And so much more, fuck, Arthur..” Quincy dreamily sighed, grabbing a hold of Arthur and dragging him farther up the bed so they could lay side by side. “Don’t worry– I’ll let you sleep eventually.”

“Mm.. not sure if I trust you on that point, I’ve heard your reputation..” Arthur teased, laying a kiss to Quincy’s knuckles as they settled in. 

“Hey- I can be gentle when I wanna be. Gonna kiss and fuck my new prince right to sleep, you just wait.” Quincy said right by Arthur’s ear, laying a kiss where his human skin met his protoframe skin. Sol, Quincy, you two are still dancing around each other, just kiss him on the damn lips already.. 

Prince, now? Still unclear from Quincy’s tone if those names were him teasing, being genuine or both. Oh, god, it’s him, so probably both.. Arthur sighed and shook his head, with a smile for once. “Quincy. Just. Shut the hell up and kiss me already..”

“For once, an order of yours I can follow without complaint!” Quincy softly laughed, before laying the first kiss of many for that night to Arthur’s lips. A bit like kissing a cactus, with all that stubble, but that was part of the appeal, honestly..

Time to lay on all the charm, Q, sounds like Arthur’s been jealous of everyone else that’s laid where he’s laying now for a long time..

Chapter Text

This must be what heaven is, Arthur thought, watching Quincy truly get relaxed before him– ridding himself of all the combat gear, even setting his pager and radio at a distance. Though.. The thought of truly being disconnected set Arthur on edge, even though he knew neither of them should be on a battlefield right now, for several reasons..

Quincy noted Arthur’s tense stare, watching as he shut his walkie off and gently tossed it across the room to his desk chair. “Let your guard down, love.. Forget everything out there. Just for a bit. Promise the world won’t end if you let yourself go for a few hours. If they really need either of us, they’ll find us. And oh, what a sight they’ll see if they do, hm?” He smirked down at Arthur, kneeling on his bed and admiring Arthur laid back on his pillows. “Deep breaths, just let yourself relax.”

First time Arthur would ever truly listen to Quincy telling him to lighten up a little. 

He did in fact take a deep, shaky breath in and let it out slowly, letting a good bit of the tension out of his muscles along with it. And with that, his attention was refocused to what Quincy was doing. Off came his silk scarf, the illusion of a coat, every bit of gear that had been customized to his new body.. Then a couple of pieces of his armor, especially that protective series of plates that protected his crotch. Until all that was left was just him.

Quincy let out a soft chuckle, noting that Arthur was having a very difficult time keeping his eyes off of his thighs and the section of swordsteel plating that could fairly obviously be removed to reveal something fun. Wondering what that something might be, Arthur? Surely it was just that prim and proper Brittanian politeness holding him back from asking, because holy shit Arthur, Quincy likes having his bed partners looking at him like that but. Eyes are up here, babe..

Quincy found a quick way to silently refocus Arthur’s attention to his face; he reached up and unpinned his braids, letting them fall loose as all the gravity brought by the collection of beautiful beads that adorned them made them tumble and clatter down where they laid to rest on his shoulders and draped over his face. “Liking what you’re seeing so far, eh? Admiring my goods so much I’m tempted to take some photos for you, immortalize whatever angle you’re seeing right now that’s even got your bad eye glitterin’ like that.. Something for you to look over when I’m out and about, touchin' yourself just waitin' for me to return..?”

Arthur snapped out of his dazed admiration, clearing his throat bashfully at the insinuation of Quincy practically taking nude photos for him. “Th–That won’t be necessary.”

Quincy’s lips curled into a mischievous smirk. “Hmm.. Offer’s open for the future if you change your mind! I know it’s hard to take your eyes off a look this slick, don’t blame you for a moment. 'Specially with me putting on a show for you.."

“I’d.. Offer a similar uh, show, but I’m already just about as stripped down as I can be without removing bandages at the moment.” Arthur said, regarding the fact that right– all his gear had either been damaged and needed repairs, or taken off to give him care, and he hasn't had the time or energy to figure out where that all went. Only thing removable on him right now were his dog tags which made it through the ordeal mostly unscathed aside from a couple of little pockmarks on their finish, and, well, the section of removable plating between his thighs that he could see Quincy looking at. That certainly felt a bit.. Tighter, after watching Quincy strip himself down.

“Heh. Funny thing, innit, these bodies of ours– means you practically walked in here naked. And no worries; I’ll have loads of times to have fun unclipping all those straps, especially the ones on your thighs..” Quincy’s mind wandered a bit, thinking of that and looking Arthur up and down. He didn’t deny the blade double-entendre earlier, so clearly that was left intact.. Wonder what the serum did to him.. 

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “I'm curious ..How many times have I caught you staring at me and what you’ve been doing is undressing me with your eyes?” That last bit of fantasy Quincy mentioned there sounded a bit like something he’d been wanting to do for a while, from that dreamy tone.

“Caught me there..” Quincy leaned down and started laying kisses across Arthur’s chest, leading up to his neck, being careful of his bandaging, ”Not as often as you’re probably thinking, but plenty enough to fuel some wild times back here between Q and little Q.”

In between a series of very soft noises he was making at the attention he was getting, Arthur’s eyes went wide as he processed what Quincy was getting at there. Quincy’s– Quincy’s gotten off to you, Arthur?! ..That makes several instances of shameful, pining self-pleasure in your own private quarters over the years feel a lot less guilty..

Quincy's mind drifted back, remembering laying where Arthur was right now, fingering himself, stroking at his new cock, thinking of any fleeting touch Arthur and him had shared, staring at his hands, his body, lingering on what his name sounded like coming from Arthur's low, gravelly voice.. “What about you? Any dreams about me? I.. Realize I used to be quite a lot louder up here until Amir worked up the nerve to let me know..” Still a bit mortified at precisely how far the sound carried from here, evidently. Tempted to look into how to soundproof the outer walls, so he could let Arthur go loud if he wanted.. “Any of your glances hide anything, the morning after you heard me and some handsome, scruffy bastard a bit like you have fun?”

Tonight’s the night for honesty.. If this won’t scare him off, nothing will, surely. Arthur nodded. “Mm.. Do you one better; I uh.. This only happened once..” He emphasized, remembering exactly how shameful this admission would be, “You. Did in fact go up here with someone that looked a bit like me–” Oh Sol, thinking about that a bit further- either Quincy had a type when it came to men, or he was lusting after you so much he was drawn to one-night-stands that looked like you.. “-and it was. Very late, so I was the only other one up.. So, I might’ve.. Tucked myself into a corner of your shooting range downstairs and ah.. Polished my blade listening to the sounds you were making..”

Quincy’s cheeks began to visibly darken a bit, taking that in. “Sol’s tits, babe.”

“I-I know that’s a lot and was definitely an invasion of your privacy and I’m sorry about that–” Arthur quickly rambled out an apology which was quickly snuffed by Quincy kissing him on the lips, one that lingered this time, joined by Quincy pushing his fingers up through the fluffy back section of Arthur’s hair to pull him in closer. Arthur’s eyes softly shut, wrapping his own arms around Quincy’s shoulders and the back of his neck, weaving his fingers in between his braids to do the same.

Sol, Quincy was a good kisser.

Arthur.. Not so much. He was exceptionally rusty, but certainly enthusiastic, not wanting to let Quincy go for a moment until his healing lungs forced him to, nipping at Quincy’s lower lip on his way back down to the pillows.

Ooh, that was sharp.. Hm. “Gonna need to get you some practice there, lucky you that you have a very willing teacher.” Quincy softly chuckled, laying another soft kiss to Arthur’s jaw. “Funny question; can I see those teeth of yours?” Arthur hardly ever smiled, let alone with teeth showing, were Eleanor and him truly twins? Aside from her tongue. 

“Ah– Sure?” Arthur shrugged and let his mouth hang open, reveling in the intimacy of Quincy taking a gentle grasp on his jaw and opening it up further to get a good look.

Not as intense as Elle’s, but yes, Arthur had been hiding some sharp little fangs this whole time. Quincy would wonder if his canines were just naturally a bit long, but those looked a bit meaner than normal human anatomy could deliver, with little metallic edges that matched his plating. “Ooh! Arthur you’ve been hidin’ just how far that scruffy werewolf charm of yours goes.. Or are these recent?”

Arthur nodded once Quincy let his jaw go. “Fairly? They weren’t immediate, around the same time Aoi bit through her lip I uh, clipped my tongue pretty badly and hid it by being. Broody, as you all claim I am. Didn’t want to scare anyone– well. Lettie. To think that I was starting to be a bit more like my sister.”

“Wonder if those can go through steel easy like Flare’s can, you could leave a pretty mark somewhere for me to remember..” Quincy whispered to Arthur’s ear. “Can’t exactly hide we’re like this, after all, between our little spat earlier and all this lovey crap we're doing.. Gonna be quite a contrast in the morning.”

“Hm.” Arthur considered that, eyes tracing down Quincy’s neck and shoulder. “I could find somewhere nice for that, if you’d like.. Somewhere obvious, or no?”

“Don’t overthink it too hard– if you wanna, do it when we’re in the heat of it, I think that’d be.. So absolutely fucking sexy. I’m not a pain fiend like certain other folks around here are, to be clear. But that would be really fucking hot.” Quincy snapped out of his dreamy state to clarify. Didn’t want to give off the wrong impression, especially since he knew Arthur was, in fact, in quite a bit of pain at the moment, no matter how much he was hiding it. Don't want him to think he's getting off on that. Quincy pulled himself back up onto his knees and then unmounted Arthur, settling in comfortably beside him and resting a hand on his chest, which started to teasingly do a little walking trace with his fingers downwards to Arthur’s waist. “You wanna make out a bit longer, or are you good for me to go farther?”

Arthur was certainly prepared to go farther, but.. “You sure you don’t want me to lead? I’m the one here that owes you for all the grace you’ve given me today..”

Quincy rolled his eyes. He's still on about that.. “Not unless you really want to, and not unless you don’t think of it like that. Drop all that; if we need to talk more about it, that’s for later. Actually– No. Fuck you, babe, I’m leading.” Quincy said definitively, with a confidence that honestly was what really started getting Arthur going. If it wasn’t that, it was Quincy adjusting positions again so soon to get down between Arthur’s legs. “You’re injured, and though this is not the reason, I don’t owe you shit to be clear, I was part of the little hell duo that put you through the emotional wringer.. So guess who gets to be spoiled tonight?” He grinned up at Arthur’s flustered face, now staring down at Quincy resting between his thighs. “That's right, it's my prince charming.. Don’t worry, I’ll get mine eventually.. You first, though.” He placed one hand firmly on Arthur’s hip while the other started tracing down into his inner thigh, sliding up to an obvious seam in Arthur’s armoring that Quincy could swear he saw something twitching underneath, the closer his fingers got. “Ready, babe?”

Arthur took another deep breath and nodded. “Readier than I’ve ever been.” Oh, Arthur, how many times have you dreamed of being on your back like this under those strong metal hands.. About as many times as you’ve dreamed of the reverse.

“Oh and someone else seems ready, too..” Quincy laughed, directly cupping his hand over Arthur’s crotch and gently fondling the whole area at once. There was something under there begging to break free.. No obvious bulge, but maybe despite the fact that he started life with a cock, the techrot tucked it away? Would explain how this area’s so smooth. Usually, anyway, there is something fighting to get loose- though it felt like it was inside him somehow, not just under this layer of warframe plating.

Arthur’s hips bucked instinctively upwards into Quincy’s grasp as he leaned his head back into the pillows. Oh gods, Quincy, don't tease him.. “Sol, Quincy, please..”

Sol indeed; same as the Drifter the night before, Quincy had been dreaming of hearing his voice escape Arthur’s lips like that for a long time. As fun as he was to tease like this, Quincy was far too excited to torture Arthur any further. This is time cut out to spoil him, after all.. Looking up at Arthur for a moment to be sure he was doing this correctly, he gently pressed at the musculature on the edge of that seam and slid his fingers under, unlatching the piece of armor down by pulling a few little strong snap-connectors free.

And there he is.. Huh. Not dissimilar from yours, Quincy– oh that got some ideas in his head immediately that he’d never considered to be an option..

Arthur laid in quiet, mildly embarrassed awe as he looked down to watch Quincy work, unlatching the armor and revealing the sheath to go with the blade analogy, a surprisingly soft and sensitive area of techrot texturing from which slid his own softly glowing cock– similar to Quincy’s, though Arthur was fully unaware of that, smooth, with a gently tapered tip and a thicker base, and a shocking amount of flexibility for the amount of blood currently pumping through it from.. Everything. Quincy touching him. Looking at him. All the dirty thoughts he was putting into Arthur’s head, whether from all the flirting, or just by Arthur looking at Quincy, stripped down and with all of his own highly strung tension entirely absent.

“Oh, what a beauty you’ve got here, Arthur..” Quincy admired it, first running two of his fingers down from the tip to the base and enjoying just how much it flexed towards his touch, then taking Arthur into his hand, starting to slowly stroke him. Didn’t even need lube to make it comfortable, there was enough of that being provided by Arthur’s own member and where he slid out from. Curious that the Techrot made them so similar, but Quincy wasn’t complaining. His was fun, so this would be even funner. Especially given..

Arthur absolutely melted the moment Quincy started touching him. He didn’t moan, not yet at least, but his breathing got heavy, letting out long, deep gasps at every stroke, resting an arm over his eyes as he threw his head back. “Fuck.. Quincy.. Fuck, that- Hhh..”

Barely even started yet and he’s falling apart.. You’d think he’s never been touched like this– Wait. “Arthur.. You’ve touched yourself since you got your new kit here, by your own admission..” Quincy laid a kiss to the side of the pretty, writhing, swollen cock in his hand, which did get a soft almost whimper of a moan out of Arthur. Is it glowing brighter the more excited he gets? Adorable.. “But you haven’t been with anyone since the swap, have you?”

Arthur shook his head. “N-no. Not.. A while.. Ugh.” Grammar’s falling apart and Quincy’s just started on you.. “It had been a while before that, too.. Hh.. N-not since..”

Quincy’s jaw dropped in realization as he put two and two together. He’d known Arthur that whole time. Never once had he even gotten the hint that Arthur had had as much as a one-night fling since– “You haven’t had sex since Aoi?” He said, gently tightening his grip. If this was anything like his own, getting a bit rougher felt good.

Arthur nodded, exhaling hard through his nostrils as he bit down on his lip. Fuck.. Okay, Quincy had his reputation for a reason. He believed that now. “And, I, uh.. I’ve never.. Acted upon- I've never been with another- Fuck, you're not going to let me talk, are you..”

That mischievous grin spread across Quincy’s face again as he laid another kiss to Arthur’s shaft. “You’ve never been with another man, have you?” He said with an overwhelmingly sultry tone, rubbing his thumb over Arthur’s tip. He let out a long sigh, lips still resting against Arthur. “Oh I’m going to take such good care of you, my darling knight. All pried out of his armor, vulnerable and exposed, letting his king polish his blade with his mouth..” 

Oh Sol, he's leaning into that fantasy again.. Wait. With his– Oh, Sol. This is heaven.

Quincy slowly licked up the entire length of him from the base to the tip, even slipping the tip of his tongue just barely into his sheath at the start, and when he got to the end, he closed his lips over the first inch or so, sucking and licking at it in his mouth while he kept stroking the rest of it with his hand, using his other hand to just gently press at Arthur’s hip to keep him from bucking too hard up into him, or at the very least, give some fun resistance for Arthur to fight against if he wanted to force himself farther in.

Much to Quincy’s pleasure, Arthur was alternating between groans and more soft whimpers, the arm over his eyes falling to the pillow behind his head while the other hand grasped on tightly to the sheets, that emo hair of his an absolute mess sticking to his sweating forehead and cheeks. “Hhh.. Mm.. Fuck.. Quincy if– fuck.. If you keep doing that I’m.. I’m going to– I’m going to finish already, dear Sol.. I swear I can last far longer I’m– gods, you’re not stopping are you– I’m just. Very out of practice.”

Quincy was, in fact, only intensifying the suction he had on Arthur the more he kept trying to talk, enjoying all of the gasps and ragged breaths he was struggling to get out words between. He let Arthur go from his mouth with a pop as the suction broke, though he was not stopping his hand any. “You can finish fast, no shame in that, love.. Though, doesn’t mean I’m done with you. For reasons you’ll see soon I’m acquainted with kit like this and I know if I have you going this much you’re good for at least a couple of rounds.”

What did– What did he mean by that? Arthur’s mind was too blurry with pleasure at the moment to totally parse what he meant. Surely he hadn’t been with any other of the protoframes, especially not one that would be similar to this? Fuck, though, Arthur, you must be dreaming, if he’s encouraging you to finish quickly, if only so you can go again.. Which you can. Arthur was very aware that he could in fact get going again quite fast, especially turned on thinking about Quincy.

Usually that was more of a point of frustration than anything, up far too late stroking himself practically raw again and again trying to get Quincy’s beautiful face and those moans that came from up here out of his head.. Coating his stomach with his own cum imagining it might be his, if.. If Quincy’d gotten lucky enough with the ‘swap’ to not just get far more conventionally masculine in his face and voice.. 

Ugh, not being in his mouth was like torture, now.. He’d been so close until Quincy drew back to speak.

“What are you thinking about up there? Or have your thoughts already started failing at how good this feels?” Quincy spoke low, laying a teasing kiss against Arthur’s tip. 

“Y-your.. Fuck..”

“Gotta tell me, sweetheart, or I dunno what you want from me..”

“I want your mouth again, Quincy..”

Quincy chuckled, lips pressed against the tip still which started leaking just at the vibration of his voice and the breath through his teeth. “Love to hear it, because you are fucking delicious, Arthur. I’ve half a mind to drop down on my knees and do this whenever I see you gettin’ tense for no good reason. Leaned right up against your security station for everyone to hear these pretty sounds..” He’d never, certainly Arthur would never do anything that public, but it was fun to think about. 

Seems like it was fun for Arthur, too, either that or he was about to come just from Quincy’s voice, lips and breath pressed against him. 

Enough teasing, let's give the knight in shining swordsteel a bit of relief.. “Feel free to finish in my mouth, babe, would love to taste just how much you love this..” With that, he took a deep breath and took Arthur into his mouth farther than last time, bobbing his head up and down about halfway down the shaft and listening to the sweet music of his Nightingale’s moans. 

He would take it all the way down to the hilt down his throat gleefully, but he wanted to be sure to taste this; taste the first time Arthur had come under someone else’s touch in years, and the first time he’d been driven over the edge by another man.. 

That in and of itself had Quincy so happy; Arthur had always respected him as just another guy, but the thought of Arthur acknowledging him like that in bed like this had Quincy feeling downright euphoric.. In speaking of which, he was so excited to play show and tell with himself, so he sped up, as well as pressing and rubbing at the sensitive, swollen protective flesh around Arthur’s base. Not sure if it had the same kind of nerves in there given that his was never a pussy, but worth a try.. He’s certainly not complaining. 

Arthur had both hands clutching onto the sheets at this point as he felt himself at the very edge. “F-fuck, Quincy.. I’m.. Oh, gods..” 

Quincy reached up with the hand that was keeping Arthur’s hip down to weave his fingers between Arthur’s lovingly. 

Pretty sure of all of this, that was the last straw, as Arthur let out a long, ragged moan and grabbed onto Quincy’s hand tightly, cock violently twitching against Quincy’s tongue as it pulsed out a huge load of thick fluid right into his mouth, which Quincy gladly swallowed, letting Arthur ride out his orgasm in his mouth and then drawing back, wiping a couple of drops that made it past his lips off with a thumb. 

Quincy chuckled at the fact that that bit of cum on his hand was glowing. “Insert ‘do not shine a blacklight in the back room of the security station’ joke here..” Quincy teased, grinning up at Arthur who was still very much trying to catch his breath.

Right. All the pleasure and deeply dirty but romantic talk distracted Arthur from how much of a fucking menace his new boyfriend was. He let out a breathy laugh, eyes softly shut as he relaxed in his afterglow. “F-fuck you, Quincy..”

“Mmmh.. Maybe another night when I wouldn’t be afraid to break your knee again by accident. You good?” Quincy laid a kiss to Arthur’s inner thigh, enjoying the sight of his slightly deflated member relaxing against his belly, gently writhing as it leaked out a bit more of that glowing fluid right onto Arthur's stomach.

Arthur nodded, finally starting to get his breath back. “Better than good.. Far, far better, gods you’re lovely at that, darling.”

Darling.. Now that’s a new one. He's starting to try out pet names, now. So cute.. Quincy kissed his thigh again, gently rubbing the outside of the same leg with one hand. “I think it’s my turn, now. I’ve got an idea that’ll get us both off, that won’t be too strenuous on your leg or shoulders.. As much as I’d love to fuck you into the mattress, if you’d be willing to try that.” His first time with a guy- but how much had he fantasized about that prospect in the past? Doesn't mind getting laid out like this, so maybe he'd be willing to lend that ass of his over sometime?

Holy shit, yes– No. Bad idea. Not tonight. “Certainly on the table, just, uh, not with my shoulders still healing, no. But. Wait– Mm..” Arthur pulled himself up onto his elbows carefully, watching as Quincy pulled himself up to kneel again, straddling his legs while being careful not to overstimulate Arthur’s cock or rest anything against his injured leg. 

Sol, Quincy’s thighs are so thick, what it would be like to kneel down and put your face between them– not with the bad knee. Calm down, soldier. Focus.  “Um. Forgiveness for a very blunt line of questioning,”

Quincy grinned down at Arthur. Pretty sure he knows where this is going with Arthur's eyes locked down there again. He’s getting curious, isn’t he, staring down at the shape of your crotch, Quincy.. This is going to be so fucking fun. 

“I.. Good gods, it’s been years and I don’t think I ever.. I know it’s complicated given that the serum did this, but I don’t think I ever congratulated you, Quincy?” Arthur said, adoring eyes looking up and down Quincy’s body. “Despite the origin, you’ve really come into yourself ever since your voice and such changed, it’s.. I’ve.. Appreciated it from a distance up until now, but it’s been absolutely wonderful seeing just how much more confident you seem now, in comparison to how you were back in the Watch..”

Oh, Arthur really is such a sweetheart under all that bravado and thick armor, isn’t he? Just came and now he’s going off on a whole speech about your fucking transition, Quincy. “Heh. Glad you noticed.. Thanks, babe.” Got Quincy’s cheeks going dark again with all the complements..  ”That’s the one silver lining about this whole mess, though I’m certainly not lining up to thank that fucker for it– I’m sure he didn’t intend to make me this handsome.. You had a blunt question?”

“Ah. Yeah. Uh. One, please do tell me if there’s anything or anywhere you don’t want touched, still, or words I shouldn’t use?”

“You wanna call me beautiful? I don’t mind being called a pretty boy.” Quincy said, pushing a couple of his braids away behind one ear. “And you can touch whatever you want.” Again, his head was being haloed by the light hanging from the ceiling, though this time Arthur was dazed and seeing an angel not from drugs but from post-coital bliss.. 

Sol and Lua, he’s so beautiful.. “And two.. If the rest of you changed so.. Radically..”

“Then what happened to my own kit, with how much yours changed?” Quincy gave a toothy grin, gently grinding his armored crotch against all that sensitive, exposed flesh on Arthur that had started to come to attention again even thinking about what Quincy might be about to show him. “You wanna do the honors?”

Arthur silently nodded, only getting more excited as Quincy dragged himself up and rested himself farther up on his torso, so that whatever was about to be revealed would be right close to his face. Looks like a similar enough setup to you, Arthur, so.. He put one hand on Quincy’s hip to hold him steady, and set the fingers of his other one to work carefully prying free a bit of panelling that hid– Oh, sweet gods.

Quincy let out a pleasant sigh as his own matching, glowing member slid free, gently bouncing off of Arthur’s nose and leaving a little sticky string of fluid that briefly connected the tip to Arthur’s face. “Almost came myself just listening to you, honestly..” He laughed, gently tracing his own fingers up and down himself. 

“How the fuck did I get so lucky..” Arthur whispered in awe, joining to gently stroke the other side of Quincy’s cock with his fingers.

“Mm.. Was going to ask that myself. Not going to ask why the rot made our cocks into a couple of puzzle pieces..” Quincy mumbled happily as Arthur took over, wrapping a firm hand around him and stroking him as if holding his own softly bioluminescent organ that Quincy swore he could feel prod at his backside for a moment as it got hard again.

“..Puzzle pieces?” Arthur questioned, taking his eyes off of what his hand was doing for just a moment. 

“Mmh.. How much have you practiced with the dexterity of that pretty thing restin’ behind me?”

“I– A bit, I’m aware it’s, uh.. Very flexible..” 

“Good enough, I can work with that. As fucking.. Ugh, as fucking lovely as this is, Arthur, let me go, time for that idea of mine.” Quincy slid himself back down once he was free of Arthur’s grasp, resting the two of them right up against each other, both twitching with excitement. “If you focus, you can make it move– It’s a bit like a tongue, but a bit firmer.. ”

“Alright..” Arthur looked down and did his best to focus on.. Moving his blade as it were, managing to flex it a bit and then eventually softly curl its tip around Quincy’s.

“Perfect, babe.. You’re gettin’ just what I wanted to do to you and me and I didn’t have to say anything. Sharp as ever.” Quincy’s tip wrapped back around Arthur, like the two were kissing. “..Can you sit up? I wanna kiss you while we do this..”

“Of course, whatever you want..” Arthur complied, sitting up the rest of the way and helping Quincy to shift the both of them so that Arthur’s back was up against the headboard, with a pillow between for the comfort of his back wounds. 

“Dangerous offer, there.” Quincy chuckled, resting his head against Arthur’s shoulder as he went through with his plan, holding onto both of Arthur’s hands with their fingers laced together.

Quincy’s cock fully wrapped around Arthur’s in a gentle corkscrew shape, which, with a little bit of doing, Arthur’s leaned into, until the two of them were wrapped around each other, stroking away at each other with no hands involved whatsoever.

“Oh, fuck, that’s perfect, Arthur.. Just what I’d hoped for..” Quincy moaned, very close to Arthur’s ear given where he was resting his head.

Arthur’s head fell forward onto Quincy’s neck in return, as he began those pretty, breathy moans up again. “F-fuck this is so strange..”

“Feels right, though, doesn’t it? Like you and I were made for each other..” Quincy kissed Arthur’s neck, unlacing his fingers from Arthur’s to rest his arms carefully around Arthur’s shoulders, as he began to thrust himself into the grasp Arthur had around him, which, in turn, contributed to stroking away at Arthur. Gods you’re so smart, Quincy, that felt wonderful.. 

Arthur brushed Quincy’s braids away from the side of his neck he was on and started laying kisses up and down Quincy’s warm steel skin, all the way down to his shoulder, then all the way up to his jaw and the scarring that marked the edge of his protoframe plating, all the while reveling in the moans he was getting out of Quincy, now, both from what was happening between them and from all the attention to his surprisingly sensitive armored skin.

“Mmmm.. Keep doing that all you want, Arthur.. I’m gonna.. Fuck.. I’m.. Fuck now you’ve got me falling to bits.” He softly laughed, leaning his head over further to give Arthur more of his neck. Remember what Quincy said about your teeth earlier, Arthur..

“You relax, I think I have an idea of my own..” Arthur laid another kiss to just below Quincy’s ear, and, to his boyfriend’s delight, went about just what he was about to do. Arthur reached his hand between the two of them– Good gods, the amount of stickiness that was on both Arthur and Quincy’s stomachs from the two of them wrapped around each other like this and bounding off of one another.. He reached his hand between them and wrapped his hand around both of them, beginning to stroke at the firm, heavily aroused, frotting hug they were sharing.

Any remaining tension in Quincy melted away, shutting his eyes and letting Arthur take over, though he didn’t stop moving his hips. Gods, he just wanted more of this– grip tightening further around Arthur as his own breath started to get a bit ragged.

Quincy pulled back after they both settled into the rhythm and made good on his promise to kiss Arthur, bringing a hand up to lace through his beautiful black and white hair and bring him in close enough to slip his tongue into Arthur's mouth, almost mirroring what was happening below. They went on for ages like that, breathy, gasping moans and soft, wet kisses- got to make good on a lot of lost time. Despite the fact that both of them knew this could be forever for them, you'd think that nuke was going to go off tomorrow with how hungrily they were both going at one another. 

Finally, Quincy laid his head back down on Arthur's shoulder, letting out a shaky, pleased sigh and his lover's name, “Arthur..”

Arthur laid a kiss to Quincy's shoulder, leaning his own head against him. “You want me to go harder?”

Quincy nodded. “Please. Gods, I wanna cum all over both of us so fucking badly..”

“Going to make a big mess, both of us, aren’t we?” Arthur laughed, picking up the pace with his hand as he promised, letting out a low growl of a groan right against Quincy's ear. “Sol.. Can I.. Can I fuck you sometime?”

“Of course. Fuck, I’d love that.. I.. Heh. Technically I still have a pussy even, I’d bet you could slip yourself in right past me when I'm spun up like this, or when I’m soft. Good luck on that second one, though, given how hard I got just starting on sucking you off..” Quincy leaned in a bit farther, pressing his chest up against Arthur’s. 

“Sounds like a challenge.. Not that I’d want to keep you turned off, for as much of a menace you are, I love hearing you talk dirty to me, honestly..”

Quincy smirked. “Good, more encouragement for me to be a proper menace to you, then–” He let out a deep moan as Arthur squeezed the both of them tigher, ”Fffuck, Arthur.. How many times did we get into a fight that we could’ve fucked out?”

Arthur shrugged. “Probably a lot.. I prefer this way, though. Sol.. C’mon, my beautiful king..” Oh, that really got Quincy going, the tip of him started leaking out all over Arthur’s hand.. “Cum for me, darling..”

Did not have to ask twice, especially as Arthur sped up significantly, reducing both of them to gasps and moans. Quincy finally shut right up and just leaned hard into Arthur’s shoulder, eyes fluttering open and closed with every stroke and thrust.

Oh, fuck, and Arthur's kissing his neck again, even with how much he's pulling himself apart- Quincy let out sharp gasp as Arthur quit kissing and dug those sharp teeth of his into his neck, letting out a low, pleased growl. The mark would get hidden under Quincy’s collar and scarf, mostly, but that area was just too sensitive for Arthur to resist.

Maybe you do like pain a little, Quincy? Because that’s definitely what kicked him over the edge, bracing down his strong thighs around Arthur’s and joining Arthur in making an absolute mess of both of their stomachs and the sheets below them as they came together.

All of Quincy's muscles relaxed as the last pulses of his orgasm slowed to a stop, draping himself limply over the side of Arthur's shoulder. Shit, his wounds- Fuck it, he's not complaining, and this is too comfortable.. “Fffuck, Arthur.. Fuck, I can usually go more than once but..”

“Tired you out?” Arthur said with a very hoarse voice, kissing the bleeding bite mark on Quincy’s neck.

“Definitely.. Fuck, I can finally sleep now, thank you, Arthur.. Been so worried about you and all this.. Hopefully we’ll both be sleeping a lot better tonight. First, though.. Clean up; I’ve got some extra sheets in case of..” Quincy pulled himself up and admired the absolute sticky wreck the both of them were. “Something like this. What I would do to put that load down inside you somewhere instead and still let you paint my stomach like this– Far too tired for that. You heal that knee quick so I can fuck you senseless, got it?” He chuckled, staring down at Arthur through tired, half-lidded eyes.

“Yes, majesty.” Arthur said with a usually very out of character mischievous smile of his own. 

Oh, you’re rubbing off on him? Either that or he’s always been like this if you can get him to open up..

Arthur cleared his throat, returning to a bit more of his usual resting expression. “..Relatedly, you are going to need to help me up so we can go deal with the wreck we made here..”

“Do you one better; C’mon, I’ve got a kit back here to replace those bandages, even, if you still need ‘em.” Quincy got up and casually lifted Arthur up bridal-style, taking him off to his bathroom to go get cleaned up.

Arthur finally processed way earlier when Quincy called him his prince charming. Quincy usually wasn't one for any sort of dedication to royalty, but he seemed so enthusiastic about that, even if it was just because it got a rise out of him.. Either way, could certainly get used to being treated like a prince like this, letting all the worries and the pressure of leadership fade away.. 

One slightly awkward shower later given that Arthur was very shaky on his feet after all that, (Sol, that was without you actually fucking him, Quincy.. Mostly was because of the leg, but still, flattering nonetheless.) the pair of them returned to Quincy’s bedroom, where Quincy got his sheets changed and then dragged Arthur back into bed with him. 

“You sleep here, even just for tonight.. We can talk about where either of us sleep from now on later, for now, I don’t want you to go anywhere.. Couldn’t stand waking up to think that any of this was a dream.” Quincy whispered, laying a kiss to Arthur’s forehead as the two of them cuddled up on each other, Arthur curled up into Quincy and slowly nodding off.

“No complaints here.. Oh, Sol, no one has any idea of where I am other than Drifter– That’s fine. We can deal with that tomorrow.” Arthur chuckled, pulling the blankets up over himself and Quincy a bit further to get some very well earned rest after all this.. 

Gods, Arthur, if yourself from just 24 hours ago could see you now, arms wrapped around Quincy in bed, breathing deeply and filling your senses with his own scent, the smell of his soap and the lingering smell of sex in the air. 

Remember when you thought he could never love you? 

Now he’s falling asleep with such a peaceful look on his face, like he finally feels like he’s right where he belongs..

Chapter Text

In the morning, Drifter was sent over to check up on Quincy. Lettie wasn’t sure where Arthur was, worried about where he might have gone and if he’d healed up yet, but Drifter had a pretty good idea where he might be if he and Quincy were both still missing..

They gently knocked on the door to Quincy’s bunk. “Quincy? You awake?”

Inside, Quincy had just started to wake up, letting Arthur get a few more minutes of rest while he admired just how adorable the scruffy bastard was relaxed like this. He started to stir as well once Drifter knocked, looking around with bleary eyes that just started to process that the events of last night were real.

“Mm.. Morning, dear.. If it is morning.” Arthur mumbled, nuzzling himself back into Quincy’s shoulder. “Sounds like our little dream is over..”

Quincy's eyes traced up to a clock on the wall nearby. It was morning, actually, huh. Fixed that fucked sleep schedule quickly.. “Mornin’.. For now, yeah. Feeling better?” Quincy whispered, nudging a bit of Arthur’s fringe out of his eyes for him.

Arthur nodded. “A lot better, yes. Actual sleep was what I needed, I think. Thank you..”

The Drifter’s voice called out again, muffled through the door, just a bit louder; “Quincy? ..Arthur?”

“C’mon in, door’s unlocked!” Quincy said proudly, looking towards the door to see the Drifter open it and shuffle in a bit to see the incredibly sweet sight before them.

Quincy and Arthur were laying facing one another, Quincy’s arm around Arthur’s shoulders to pull him in like he’d been hugging him in their sleep, and Arthur curled up and looking so, so much more relaxed than Drifter had ever seen him. 

Arthur’s cheeks started to go pink again, looking over his shoulder to meet eyes with the Drifter. He gave an awkward wave. “Uh. Morning, Marty.”

“Morning, you two.. Seems like all went very well.” The Drifter chuckled, any worry they had over not being able to find Arthur immediately melting away. “Take your time, there’s no emergencies or anything, Lettie was just worrying herself about not being able to find Arthur. Congratulations, I knew you two would look adorable together.”

Quincy let out a still-sleepy chuckle. “Fuck you, still, Drifter– Thanks, though, seriously. The methods were questionable at best but I cannot knock the results..” He leaned over and laid a kiss right on Arthur’s lips proudly. “We’ll be out in a few.”

Drifter smiled and turned to leave, shutting the door behind them to let them finish waking up.

Quincy and Arthur cuddled for a couple minutes longer and then finally got up; by Arthur’s demand, he helped Quincy get all his gear on, especially making sure his scarf and collar sat well, if only to trace his fingers along the half-healed bite in Quincy’s neck.

“Are you my knight or my squire, there, Arthur?” Quincy teased, kissing Arthur on the forehead as he secured the last strap of his gear on. “C’mon; no getting embarrassed now, let’s walk out together, hm?”

Arthur wasn’t embarrassed necessarily– okay, a bit, but more nervous.. In here he didn’t mind having his guard down, but showing affection out there still felt.. Vulnerable. He trusted Quincy, though, so he obliged, walking out right behind him and walking down the stairs together, with Quincy checking back occasionally to be sure he was walking better on that leg.

Any protoframe who was out and about was staring, not judgementally, just lingering glances, in awe at the absolute 180 degree flip between the last morning and this one, as Arthur and Quincy got breakfast together, laughing and stealing kisses from one another like they couldn’t resist keeping their hands off of one another. 

They finally broke off– There was work Quincy had to do, unfortunately. 

Eleanor approached him, with a smug grin on her face. She hadn’t heard the majority of the last night’s events, thank Sol she had gotten much more precise on her control, but she was at least aware of some of the preceding events from her brother’s catastrophizing thoughts on his way over to Quincy’s room. She said to Quincy’s mind specifically, still smiling but with a very intense look in her eyes. “You break my brother’s heart and I will tear yours out with my claws and eat it for dinner, Quincy. Congratulations.”

Quincy snickered. Holy shit, could tell she was not joking on either part, there. “Promise I’ll treat him well, don’t worry.” He said, giving her a pat on the shoulder as he walked past.

He was surprised, pleasantly, to see Arthur approaching him again as soon as he made his way over to his shooting range; holding onto his guns that Drifter had refit the previous night. “Hey, handsome– here to test out your shooters?”

Arthur nodded, giving his rifle a once-over before turning his gaze upwards to Quincy with a mischievous little glimmer in his eyes. “Relatedly; reminder– your weapons need to be stripped down and tuned regularly.”

Quincy raised an eyebrow. Reminding him that when that was practically Quincy’s entire job off of the battlefield, how much had Arthur got his head scrambled the past couple of days–

“That includes your blade.. He’s gone a bit dull from not being used in a long time..” Arthur smirked. “Should take the time to keep him sharpened more regularly, or he might start getting jealous of your rifle.”

Oh holy shit, Arthur does have it in him to talk like that.

Quincy grinned widely, eyes wide in disbelief as he started to strip down his rifle nearby. “Yes, your majesty, anything you wish.” He said in a dramatic tone, usually saved for when he was getting way into character in Amir’s tabletop campaign.

Arthur sputtered a bit, taken aback at that energy getting turned back on him again; his ears immediately started going red. “Okay that stays in the bedroom. Please.. You’re going to become such a liability, even moreso than usual..” He chuckled. “Though I’m certainly not complaining..”

Quincy leaned over and laid a peck of a kiss on Arthur’s cheek. “Good, because I’m gonna be even more of a menace than ever to you.. Promise to let up when things are actually serious, I do not want a repeat of the night before last. Ever. Gonna make me into your actual guardian angel if you pull that shit again.”

“And I promise to be far more careful.. And not let my emotions govern my actions quite so sharply. I’m yours forever and I’d like to keep that being true.” Arthur said quietly, returning a kiss to Quincy’s cheek. “I love you..”

Quincy flushed a bit at that.. Didn’t expect Arthur to say that out loud in the middle of the damn mall, with how reserved he usually was. “Love you too.. I think Drifter’s right– gonna kill the Indifference just lookin’ at how brightly we shine together, babe.”

Sol, Quincy, remember when you thought Arthur would never have you, leaning over that balcony listening to Drifter sing?

When they told you they only loved you as a close friend- a very close friend, albeit- and you settled into the despair of thinking you'd be alone forever?

Now Arthur's kissing you, telling you flirty double-entendres in the middle of the mall for anyone to hear. Just a day or so later..

Wouldn't give up this weird hellscape for a moment, fully and truly. Not when heaven lays right there, in the rare but bright smile on Arthur's face.