#coveitous thread 008

[gunmetalgrey]

For @coveitous from here

Her breathing was rhythmic and slowed, ready to mimic sleep in the hopes that fiction would become reality. Sometimes it worked. “You’d be surprised. I can play the happy little fiance looking for a two bed- did it to scout a mark out before.” They wouldn’t actually need a mortgage. Or any kind of banks agreement, given what she had hidden away. But that might lead to more questions that she couldn’t answer by being honest. Maybe he’d have enough sense to just let her sort it and not ask. “You telling me you don’t have a fun tie hidden away somewhere?”

She frowned, but didn’t argue. “When I get up I’ll shove some on the bedside table. Taken ‘em. No point fucking your hand up because you’ll end up regretting it at work. Got it?” Either way she’d be awake first so best to set up good habits now. “Ray’ll never let you hear the end of it.”

[gunmetalgrey]

For @coveitous from here

When she finally looked at his face, his grin was infectious. For a moment it was impossible to be afraid, anxious, panicked. Worrying about the future didn’t matter when he had a face like that. She sank happily into his kiss, groaning a little as he pulled back but letting him go all the same. She was just excited to hear what he was thinking as to look at his expression for a little longer.

They snuggled back down, content and happy. Safe. “Good. You and me, we’re almost fucking functioning. God- we’re gonna have a mortgage and shit. Like real adults.” The pebble dash ceiling didn’t seem quite so intimidating to stare at now, maybe she would close her eyes for a bit. “Guess I better plaster up the hole of we’re moving. How’s that finger feeling? Need a painkiller?”

[gunmetalgrey]

For @coveitous from here

All of what he said made sense. But hopefully she’d given him proof enough that it wasn’t just him. He didn’t have to be alone. Although maybe proof was a horrible form of torture to when she knew she couldn’t keep it up.

“Look- I’m not promising to retire or anything. That’s… not really something I get a say over but I have savings. I can’t make promises like I’ll be home for dinner or learn to bloody cook but… yeah. I’m serious. And if you want to carry on like this that’s also fine- this is good. Just thought…”

For a moment she was uncertain, looking away from him so that she missed his smile. Maybe it was too much, and she had felt the need to ruin a good thing while it lasted. That would be just like her, really. Yet Alex shrugged.

“It would be nice to know we’ve got matching keys. Same as the matching emotional baggage. When I get to come home, it’s you I’m coming back to either way.”

[gunmetalgrey]

From here for @coveitous

She didn’t need an answer, and yet the question left her lips before she’d truly thought to say it. “What were you like back then?” She was pretty sure she could make a good guess but the idea of him… going through things a child shouldn’t have to hardly felt fair. Life had made them tough, tougher than they should have to have been when they were small. At least Alex had the stability of a house and blood relatives who kept hold of her to consider safety.

“Ain’t like you’re a fucking puzzle box babe- trust me.” He wore so much in his sleeve. His heart, his pain, his anger. He had an openness in a way she’d never truly be able to appreciate, because as much as he had to carry he still held hope. She wondered what that felt like, to have a little faith that tomorrow might be better than yesterday. “You want soppy?” She pushed away a bit, propping herself up on her elbows and tilting her head towards him. Her messy curls fell into her eyes but she didn’t make any effort to move them.

“Let’s get a place. Together. A home or whatever.”

[gunmetalgrey]

For @coveitous from here

“What? Do I look like I’m not?” No, she looked like a cat who got the cream but she handed over the safety axe all the same, trading him for her pistol. She immediately made sure the safety was on, storing it int he back of her waistband for now. It felt right, having the weight of a gun and a knife on her person again. “How’s that back doing? You feeling alright? Not far, alight, we just gotta get over to the next building and then we’re out.”

She paused to look out of the ruin, still seeing nothing but small flames in the courtyard. Maybe it was a fire hazard in a condemned building. Maybe this was why she should screen her safe houses more carefully, but that didn’t feel like it. “Did anyone know you were coming to meet me here?”

[gunmetalgrey]

From here for @coveitous

The grunt said more than enough and yet he felt the need to explain. “Yeah?” She’d seen the odd photo, or the contact names in his phone and yet she had never pushed. As much as she wanted to know more, she didn’t exactly think it was fair. It was the impossible part of her lifestyle, to exist without existing at all. “If you wanted to talk ‘bout them, well-“ The offer was out there now. he could take it or leave it.

She could feel the shake of his head on the pillow and felt the corners of her mouth pull up in a smile. She wasn’t, she truly wasn’t but they would be going round and round on that fight forever. As he squinted back, her gaze didn’t break from his. He was just as intense as herself, and yet he needed her to hear this. “Hey—“ She moved her hand up to his cheek, using her leg at the same time to hitch over his hip. Their foreheads pressed together. “I know. I know. You hear me? I get neither of us are fucking Shakespeare here, I know that. And sometimes yeah, I need you to tell me what’s going on up here-“ She tapped her fingers on his temple gently, and then moved her hand slowly down his neck. Over his chest to his heart.

“Just not here. I know this stupid thing pretty fucking well by now.” Her palm could feel the heartbeat beneath his skin, rhythmic and gentle. “You don’t have to tell me that much.”

[gunmetalgrey]

For @coveitous from here

“You stay in touch with anyone from back then?” She wouldn’t name him if he didn’t. She had blood relatives she had cut contact with completely even before they had believed she was dead and gone. The people who knew her now were usually a special brand of unsavoury, or the old friends from Special Forces. People who lied and kept secrets, or could handle their own. If you didn’t fall into either category, it was too much of a risk.

She moved to kiss the corner of his mouth, holding him a little tighter. “Trev likes people who seem like lost causes. He should know better.” Victor should have better judgement than to like her, and she owed him more than anyone else could possibly understand. Her and Fletch had pulled the nasty broken pieces back together, it was thanks to the pair of them she even had this. And ever moment after it.

“You don’t need to show me off babe.” It was obvious, but hopefully the statement would reassure him. “You don’t need to do any of that shit. I’m here. Right where I wanna be.” Maybe a network would be good, it would help him when it came down to the worst. He deserved to have more than just her to rely on when she was so incredibly unreliable. “Everything else doesn’t matter much to me.”

[gunmetalgrey]

For @coveitous from here

It was weird, to watch his brows knot and unknot themselves. For all her life, she had considered it sort of cute. Nice in a way. These were the acts of kindness that she had valued, because despite the teasing and the silly parts in the middle, Sebastian and Severin had tried to give her a little bit of magic. Well, they did pretend she was invisible for about four years in the middle there but siblings weren’t exactly perfect. She didn’t stop massaging his temple, her breathing smooth and rhythmic as she thought it over. Not that there was any real point figuring it out now. Her oldest brother had been dead years, and the middle one believed she was six feet under somewhere near Bristol. “Moran’s don’t do things by halves.”

Her mother used to day that a lot. Exasperated, bent over the kitchen table, that stern look on her face.

“Fuck everyone else.” She kissed the end of his nose, mostly because she could reach it without moving. “Ain’t like I’m a prize catch. The grumpy bastard and the dead girl, perfect pair really.” Not that he’d ever offered up a family for her to meet. Not that she had ever had the right to ask. Anything she would tell them would be a lie, if he had people he cared about in his life then it would be too much of a threat to involve herself. It was a risk enough to be like this, at home in his arms. Best not to linger on that thought either.