I saw the latest question prompt ^^ "How did this happened?"
i know this is 40 years late but here it is!!
They’re tucked in their bed, Vega idly tracing lines into the Slayer’s skin with delicate fingers. Occasionally, the man wriggles in place, showing that something he’s done tickles. Inky lay curled in his lap, soundly sleeping.
“How did this happen?” Vega points to a thick, ragged scar on the Slayer’s shoulder.
‘Baron,’ the man signs back. ‘Went clean through the gap in the suit.’
Vega hums worriedly. The plethora of scars on the man means he’s been through literal Hell and back, but they also mean that he’s survived all these encounters. He drifts to another scar, this one on the side of his face, towards his ear. “And this one?”
‘Close call with the Cyberdemon.’ He twists to expose part of his neck, where another thin, pale line shows itself. ‘There, too.’
“I don’t like how close those two were to…” Vega trails off. Gently, he runs his fingers along the lines, some small surge of affection overpowering the fretting as the Slayer leans into the touch.
‘Made it, at least.’ He shrugs.
“Yes, but one of these days they’ll--” he cuts off. He shouldn’t let his worrying ruin their mood.
Instead he focuses on something else. “Slayer, I never noticed that you had freckles.” There’s a smile in his voice.
The man frowns and looks down at his arm. ‘They’re faint, thankfully.’
“What do you mean, ‘thankfully’?” Vega scolds. “I think they’re quite endearing.”
The Slayer flushes ever so slightly, but enough for Vega to notice. “You aren’t embarrassed by them, are you?”
The man huffs at him.
“You shouldn’t be,” the AI continues. “All the more to remember that you are human.”
His face softens.
“You hadn’t thought of it that way?”
‘No.’
“Well, now you can.” Vega sidles up to his side, tucking into the crook of his arm snugly. “You may forget it sometimes, but you are human. Hayden may have taken some of that away from you, but you still hold a good portion of it.”
The Slayer looks pensive, thinking over what Vega’s said. His brow wrinkles as he frowns.
“I’ll keep telling you that,” Vega soothes a hand over sharp cheekbones. “As much as you need reminding.”
He feels the marine relax at his comfort, sinking further into the bed.