Fic: Our wounds are anger in our bones (fake bond verse)
So this is my fic contribution to The Fake Bond Verse. I suggest you go look at that tag and read Linn's fic first because it's lovely. Um, posted on my ficblog because it's nicer to read on than my main blog (parabellumeve).
There's a helicopter waiting for him when he's pushed out and onto the roof. A bald man in his thirties ducks under the rotor blades, holding a water bottle in one hand and keeping his tie from escaping in the wind with the other. He hands the bottle to Adam and presents himself as Marius Thorne. Adam drowns the entire bottle right there, not bothering about the water dribbling down his shin and throat and no doubt leaving a clean streak of skin in its wake. Marius' whole being exudes power and wealth: the cut of the no doubt bespoke suit, the shoes shiny and the way he carries himself even in the sweltering heat of the desert speaks of someone who gets what he wants.
“Will you be taking me back to London?” Adam yells over the increasing wind of the helicopter. His voice rasps and crackles uncomfortably against the back of his throat and he doubts it will ever have the same strength it had just a few years ago.
“If that's what you want.” Marius yells right back, but his mouth twists angrily as he does so.
“And I if I don't?”
“I hear Dubai is very nice this time of year.”
They don't make it back to London for a very long time.
To Adam's surprise Marius doesn't cut him loose as soon as they take ground. Instead, he takes Adam to a hospital that looks like an incredibly up-scale hotel with the exception being that all staff is wearing scrubs or white coats. There is no waiting, no paperwork and Adam is put in a room where he gets his blood taken for testing and a long shower. Marius offers him a job, nothing specific just yet but on the payroll at least. The blood works come back; the results are bad but not unexpected and Adam is put on antibiotics for what can be cured and inhibitors for what can't. If Marius knows about the results, he doesn't tell.
Adam leaves the hospital soon enough and goes wherever Marius goes. He has no official title, but with his military background and his reluctance to let Marius out of his sight, he falls naturally into the role of a body guard.
Marius job takes them across the world and seems to consist of meetings and too many hours stuck in offices with politicians. It also occurs to Adam that what Marius does only looks legal on paper. There's a distinctly harried and nervous quality to all the people he meets with, as if they know that what they're doing could get them killed, should they be discovered.
Exactly how sensitive Marius work is, Adam doesn't find out until a year later. It goes something like this:
The sound of a single gunshot sound through the walls of the hotel they stay at in Budapest. Adam rushes from his room without a second thought, gun in hand, to check on Marius. He pauses outside Marius' door, taking a slow breath and listening for any sounds coming from the other side of the door. There are none and he swiftly pulls from his pocket a key to Marius' he stole from the front desk downstairs when the clerk was busy. He's not sure when it became a habit to steal an extra key, but it makes him feel better to know that he can get into Marius' room, should anything happen. The door swings open and he slides inside, closing the door quietly behind him.
“Adam?” Marius asks. He's is his shirtsleeves without a tie, the most relaxed attire Adam ever sees him in, and he quickly lowers the gun he has trained on Adam.
“I heard shots.” Adam explains and lowers his own gun, eyes moving quickly across the room to catch anything out of place. Marius nods and seems entirely at ease as he sits down on the crème coloured sofa, clicking the safety back on his gun and putting it on the table. Adam tucks his gun into the lining of his jeans, preparing to leave.
“And the key?” Marius doesn't sound angry, not even curious, just expectant. Adam turns slightly and watches as Marius eyes move over the front page of a newspaper; Bold letters proclaiming the murder of a Hungarian minister.
“Just in case.” Adam shrugs.
“Sit with me.” When Adam sinks down into the armchair to his left, Marius folds the newspaper and lays it on the table between them, putting the headline and the picture of the dead minister on display.
“Do you know why this man is dead?” Adam glances at the article.
“Because he was shot in the chest twice at close range.” Marius makes a sound in his throat that sounds like an aborted chuckle.
“Yes, but do you know why?” Adam shakes his head. “Because he didn't do his job. He was moving towards shutting down the negotiations with the Romanians.” Marius leans forward to tap his index finger at a picture of a second man, “His replacement will be far less inclined to take money from the Russians.”
“This says nothing about the Russians.” Adam points out, frowning at the newspaper.
“It will.” Marius says simply and tells him about The Plan, his plan to change the world and make it something new and beautiful. He speaks in a quiet measured tone at length; the absolute certainty in his voice does not waiver for a second.
When he falls quiet, he looks at Adam.
“Do you have something you believe in?”
“I do.” The 'now' falls silent from his lips but Marius must see it in his face because his lips quirk into a small smile.
“Good.”
It's another year before they talk about anything that isn't work related and Adam has a feeling Marius makes an effort not to cross any employer – employee line. It's a ridiculous notion of course, since Marius saved his life and gave him a new purpose.
On the surface, his relationship with Marius is simple; Marius needs a right-hand man he can trust implicitly and Adam is a soldier, used to taking orders and very, very grateful for the timely rescue from a Sudanese prison. The gratitude turns to loyalty, a fierce loyalty that scares Adam at first with its intensity, as he between one breath and the next knows that he'd lay down his life for Marius, should he ask for it. The realisation doesn't scare him for long, because the loyalty goes both ways: Marius trusts Adam with his life and his work and makes sure he comes back from every mission, no matter what.
Adam has been back for a day and he still hasn't seen Marius. He never tells Marius so, but it makes him nervous and itchy if he's not at the hotel when Adam arrives. He spends hours pacing the corridors and glares balefully at everyone he meets. In the end he returns to his rooms for a work out. He does push-ups until the sun has fully set and his t-shirt starts to cling to his torso and he throws it aside.
He's stretching when there's a short knock on the door before Marius' steps into his peripheral vision.
“The staff tells me you've been scaring the other guests.” There's a dry humour to his voice and Adam swallows the relief that wells up in his chest and plasters a smirk on his face as he turns around. But Marius isn't smiling any longer. He's staring at his neck where a red, jagged scar twists from below his right ear, across the nape and disappears down his back and runs diagonally down to the base of his spine. Adam twists away instinctively and picks up his shirt from the floor.
“Don't.” Marius says and stalks across the floor until he's right in front of Adam, jaws working and lips tight. “You have nothing to be ashamed of. Your scars are reminders of our government's failure, not yours.” He grips Adams wrist tightly until he drops the shirt and briefly rubs his thumb across the soft skin on the underside of the wrist in apology. The air between them I heavy and Adam can smell the faint trace of Marius cologne. He can only imagine how he must smell to Marius, with sweat slowly cooling on his skin. He takes another step forward and carefully bends his neck to rest his forehead against Marius' shoulder.
Marius hesitates for a second, but relaxes into the touch and leans into it for a moment by letting his cheek rest on Adam's head. He moves his hands until his fingers brush against the naked skin on Adams shoulders and neck. The right hand drifts along the scar and Adam stiffens, his body drawing taut and his hands taking a hold of Marius' suit jacket. Marius' hands move on to rest on his waist and he leans in to talk softly into his ear, breath ghosting across Adam's neck along the way.
“I expect you to tell me when you want me to stop.” Adam nods wordlessly and releases the death grip on Marius' jacket, “Good. Turn around.” He pushes his right hand against Adam's waist and Adam readily follows, exposing his back for Marius' eyes. The hands on his waist move up and down his sides, calming circular motions. Then he puts his mouth at the very beginning of the scar on Adam's neck, just below his ear and kisses it softly. The sound that wrenches itself from Adam's throat is that of a wounded animal and he slumps forward to lean his head in the crook of his arm against the wall. Marius' follows and rubs his nose gently against his jaw for a few moments.
Marius' touch disappears and out of the corner of his eye Adam can see him shedding his jacket before stepping in and covering Adams back with his body again He presses another kiss at the scar under Adam's ear and trails kisses lower, across the nape and shoulder blade. His hands slides down Adams arms as he moves further down. Adam shudders and his breath comes out shallow and desperate as he struggles to stay still and not press into or away from Marius' mouth. His tongue slides across the stretched and gnarled skin, leaving a cold trail of drying saliva in his wake. The muscles in his back aches from the tension that won't go away and his legs shake from the effort to keep himself upright, to not collapse on the floor in front of Marius and beg him for the pain to stop.
“Stop.” His voice is wrecked and small sounding in the dark room. Marius must hear him though because he immediately grabs Adam by the shoulders and guides him down on the floor and only lets go to snatch up the discarded t-shirt from the floor. He wrestles a boneless Adam into it and lifts his chin to look him straight in the eye.
“The responsible for this will die.” He says with the same calm certainty he always does when he speaks of The Plan.
And Adam believes in him.