Mason slid an elbow onto the smooth wood and crooked two fingers at the man behind the bar. He wasn’t a big drinker, but as he scanned the room, he knew he needed the extra liquid courage.
He could pick out his… teammates? friends? colleagues?- easily out of the crowd. They all wore similar suits, all tailored slightly different to accentuate each man in the perfect, pretty package.
The others in the room, men and women forming groups of two or three around each coveted prize, were also similar. They all had the same haughty laugh. The same expensive jewelry. The same dangerous look in their eyes. Mason half expected a forked tongue to dart out of their mouths.
Ethan Sinclair, holding court in the middle of the room, of course, had the biggest crowd. Ten, Mason counted to distract himself. Mason didn’t know him well but he knew enough that this was to be expected. Sabre was Cerberus royalty, son of the director of the science division and a favorite of well, everyone. If the suits were all tailored to show off the best parts of them, he snorted into his glass when he realized Ethan had the tightest pants. The man used that to his advantage, moving and leaning to the music as he talked in a way that drew eyes down his body more than once. Mason turned away from the sight when a long, pointed fingernail tapped his shouler.
The lives of the investors were top secret. But each of the men were given dossiers of a few simple facts. Their name , their favorite drink. Conversation pieces. Mason of course had memorized everything. He was ready.
Standing in front of him was Irinia Sarkov, the woman who had held the top donor spot since this project began. That made her the bullseye of the room, and she had come to him. Take that, Sinclair.
“Well what do we have here.” She purred, and something about her made something in Mason immediately recoil. Impressing her would impress his bosses and that's all that mattered, so he smiled, thought of the information given to him in her dossier and opened his mouth to speak.
“Irinia, hello love.” A familiar British accent said from beside him, suddenly appearing out of thin air.
“Oh hello Sabre. I was just inspecting the new one here. He’s pretty.” Her hand moved from her glittering diamonds at her neck to Ethan’s chest in a too familiar way as he moved to stand beside her.
“Of course he is, he’s one of us. You know we don’t let ugly people in. It’s against our morals.” Ethan replied in a mock offended tone. He slid an arm around the woman's waist. She laughed and once again for a reason Mason couldn't explain, the sound sent chills up his spine.
“Listen darling," Ethan continued, placing his free palm over her hand that still lay on his chest, scooping it into his own. I have a new trick to show you , if you’ll allow me the honor. In private."
"Of course my dear!" She said it as though she were doing him a favor, but her eyes never stopped scanning Mason head to toe. "Just make sure no one gets the new one before me alright? I don’t want to test drive a new car that’s already scratched…."
"Anything for our queen.” Ethan bowed dramatically, kissing the hand he held before leading her away.
Mason stood slack jawed for just a moment before cursing over what missed opportunity just unfolded before his eyes, finally finding the word he was searching for the other men earlier. Competition. And Ethan Sinclair was his biggest competitor.
—-
"Heard Sabre traded for you the other night."
One of his competitors said with a full mouth, as the man sat down across from him in the mess hall. Mason hadn't learned his name or callsign yet. Too many came and went these days to keep track.
"Traded?"
"Did you a solid. A favor. Took one for the team. Need I go on? The boys said he scooped her away from you. I haven’t had the experience personally, but that woman?" He shivered dramatically. "I’ve heard horror stories."
"Irinia?"
Nodding, the man scooped more food into his mouth and talked around it. "Let’s just say... she likes to break her toys. Probably why Sabre wasn’t at training yesterday. He was probably in the analeptic chamber recovering." He laughed at his own humor and Mason frowned as a small piece of corn shot out of the man's mouth. "Anyway, he must like you, no one goes after her willingly."
"Sabre!"
Mason turned in the direction of the yell from a man three chairs down and watched as Ethan Sinclair wearing nothing but a low slung towel across his hips walked across the other side of the room, flexing and kissing his bicep in response to the call. Mason silently rose, exiting the same direction as some of the men shook their heads and some laughed at the show.
"Hey." Mason called to the man several long strides ahead of him in the hall. "Hey, Sabre."
Ethan's steps slowed before eventually coming to a stop. Throwing the apple in his hand up and down in boredom until Mason caught up.
"I just wanted to thank you. For what you did. I heard, well it was my first investor function and I've heard she's... a lot to deal with."
"I didn't do it for you Huntsman. I was making a move. For me." Ethan bit into the apple, a strand of wet hair falling into his face with the movement. "It's a eat or be eaten world here. I'd suggest you learn how to take a bite." He tossed the bitten apple to the other man, not waiting for a response as he walked away.
----
"You were so mean to me back then." Mason said as he finished telling his side of the memory. He rested against his husband in their bed, eyes half closed, lulled to relaxation with the sound of ship's engines humming.
Mason's body shook with the movement of Ethan's laugh. "I envied you. You were so goddamn innocent. I grew up around it. I saw the evils. You come strolling in with your beautiful, angelic face, optimistic attitude and I hated you because I could never go back to that. I was also not looking forward to the day you would lose that, as so many before already had.”
“So did you really do that for me? Intercept her?”
Ethan’s voice dropped into a low, serious tone. “Of course I did.”
"So what you’re saying is, you were in love with me."
Ethan ran his fingers through the other man's dark hair. "No, in the beginning I mostly wondered if those gorgeous eyes would be even more gorgeous when looking up at me while your lips were wrapped around my dick."
"Okay funny guy. So when they finally did wrap around your dick, did you fall in love with me then?"
"No," Ethan's fingers stroked through the strands absentmindedly. "I was already in love with you by then."
Mason sat up at that, brows lifting in surprise. "I never knew that."
"I’m a good pretender." Ethan shrugged, averting his eyes.
"Now that, I did know." He slid his palm over his husbands cheek to draw his hazel eyes back to him. "When?"
"When what?"
Mason gave an exasperated sigh. "When did the infamous player lover boy Ethan Sinclair fall in love with little ol' Mason Knight?"
"When you saved the ducks, of course."
Mason's head jerked in confusion before his gaze drifted off, thinking. "Wait a minute. The radiation ducks???"
"You stopped right in the middle of a full blown reconnaissance mission to rescue those stupid ducks. We had been together for years at that point. We had been through everything imaginable. We had seen plenty of guys not make it, either they changed too much or didn't change enough. But you, it never changed you. It never rocked those righteous virtues inside of you. It was like no matter what horrible things were thrown at us it never scratched your soul."
Mason's face was overcome with emotion before he took back control. Drawing one finger down Ethan's face he slowly leaned in to kiss his lips. "I wonder if they lived a happy life. Those ducks."
"Oh they definitely died. A horrible death. And soon."
"Eth!"
"Mason. They lived on a planet with such a high radiation element nothing could survive for long. Bloody hell, one of them had three beaks."
Mason chuckled and snuggled back down into the crook of Ethan's arm. "So, what did Irinia do, anyway?"
"You really don't want to know."
