topino | (no subject)

[ Joe chuckles warmly then very quickly grabs Nicky's hand, pulls it away from his cock, and pins it down against the bed. ]

You're going to come from my cock or not at all, my love. Brace yourself.

[ They can talk about Nicky fucking him after this. Joe's not against the idea, of course. He loves it.

But right now he fucks his husband hard and deep scooting him up the bed with the force. ]

[ Nicky lets out a very unhandsome growl when Joe takes his hand away, snapping his teeth at him in what he probably hopes is a very playful way. It is, mostly, only, he wants the relief of getting to touch himself.

An order from Joe is not to be ignored, though. He reaches behind him, grabbing the headboard, and lets Joe fuck him so hard that he thinks he's trying to make him one with the bed. ]

You look so good.

[ And he does, bouncing like that, fucking Nicky like a man possessed. ]

[ The growl just turns him on more, reminding him of the old days when they snapped and snarled at each other all the time. He loves when Nicky gets spirited.

Joe kisses him hard before he throws his head back and focuses on fucking his husband for all he's worth. It will be awhile before he can manage sentences.

He needs to focus on breathing while he tries to get Nicky off with just his dick. ]

[ Nicky had better come soon, or Joe is going to end up flipped with Nicky riding him, just to remind him of exactly what it is he likes when he's being fucked like this. His eyes are a bright, blazing thing and he grabs at Joe's hair, yanking hard to kiss him, scraping his teeth over his lip to bite.

He's hissing now, moaning Joe's name, spots of white in his vision.

Usually, that means he's close, so close, and he lets his head fall back against the waiting pillows, ekeing out small little noises, but nothing coherent.

By now, Joe should know what that means. ]

[ Gentle lovemaking would have to wait for later. He can see how his Nicky needed this. Maybe Joe did too. To claim him. To remember they are the only ones who can do this to each other.

The only ones they want. ]

Come on, babe. Come on. Let go. I've got you.

[ He runs his fingers through Nicky's hair before he grabs his hips hard enough to bruise if such a thing would stay on his skin. ]

[ Nicky keeps his eyes open now that they're near the end. He wants to see Joe, look into his eyes, he wants to know that it is his husband with him, and no one else. No labs, no doctors, no scientists. Him and Joe, together, the way it's always been meant to be.

His breath shallows out as he stares at him, moaning sharply when Joe drags at his hips, and the sudden movement is just what he needs. ]

Yusuf. [ He chokes out his name, cursing as he comes and makes a mess for the second time in a day, spurred on by his husband's excellent talents for pleasure. ]

[ Those eyes so intense on him make Joe feel like the most important man in the world. He's so loved and there's the proof right there, the way Nicolo looks at him.

He's not far behind his husband. A few thrusts and Joe almost collapses on top of him unable to hold himself up against the pleasure coursing through him. ]

Nicolo... [ He pants heavily against Nicky's lips. ] My love.

[ Nicky groans as he collapses back, stretching both arms out over his head for a moment, bringing them down to slide through Joe's hair as he leans up to kiss him. ]

I love you more than there are stars in the sky, my heart.

[ He doesn't want Joe to move, grabbing at his hips to keep him in place, even if they will be a sticky disaster soon enough, but it is their honeymoon (again) and they deserve some happiness. Absently, Nicky traces Arabic letters on Joe's back, spelling out his name, his full name, and he tips his head somewhat to the side, where the light is spilling in. ]

Will we be able to handle it? Seeing Andy age, do you think?

[ He knows it's a severe change in topics, but he cannot help the thought when they are here, at the light at the end of that awful tunnel. ]

[ There's probably a very nice bath here so if they do end up a sticky mess they'll just relax in the bath after this.

He's drifting on a very pleasant cloud of comfort when Nicky mentions Andy. That knocks him out of that as surely as if he had poured ice water over him. ]

Not at first but... we'll have time to get used to the idea. [ He props himself up so he can look down at Nicky. ] We'll have our time to say goodbye.

[ Nicky turns to look at Joe, holding his gaze for a long moment, considering him, considering what lies ahead of them, and this is the awful part he is about to confess, to only Joe. ]

If I knew there was a way for them to take samples, to give her back her immortality if she wanted it, I think I would give it to them.

[ He's sorry for it, and he thinks he's been feeling guilty about it ever since Merrick. He wants to never see Joe hurt again, but he also wants to defend Andy, a woman he's known almost as long as he's known Joe and loved in a very different way. ]

If it were you, I would give every organ and limb to keep you.

Oh. Nicolo.

[ He leans forward and rests his forehead against Nicky's as he lets the pain of those words roll through him. Just the thought of Nicky going through that again hurts. ]

You know none of us can fight this. It is her time. [ He cups his cheek and gently brushes his thumb across his cheek. ] Our time will be together. We found immortality together. We'll leave it together.

[ He has to wonder how much of his own words about it being their time had been posturing. Facing down reality and thinking he could do anything about it has left him struggling to accept what even he said.

Nicky breathes out and holds onto him, knowing that he would not do it, not actually. He would never do anything that would hurt Joe. ]

It is her time. [ He echoes, saying the words again. His fingers keep tracing words, letters, spelling out 'I love you' in a foreign language on Joe's back. ]

Hopefully not for at least another thousand years. I am just beginning to like you. [ Said with a smirk. ]

[ The words don't help too much right now but Joe hopes in the future they will ease the twist of worry and sadness in his gut.

Nicky writing calligraphy across his back does a lot more. ]

I think we have a few more thousand, at least. [ After all, Andy was six thousand. Quyhn roughly the same. Surely they would get that much. ] By then I hope you'll tolerate me.

[ He kisses him slowly and deeply. ] I love you, Nicolo di Genova and I will love you until the stars burn out.

[ Nicky snorts his laughter into Joe's neck, thinking about how nice it would be to tolerate him for another thousand years, two thousand, and more. There are the usual fears, of course, of separation, but Nicky knows they would not do anything to prompt that.

They have been more careful, since Quynh. ]

I love you too, Yusuf Al-Kaysani. Until the Earth is dust. [ He cups his cheek and holds him there, pressing their foreheads together. ] Will you talk to me now? About the lab? About Booker?

[ And how he's feeling. ]

[ Joe sighs heavily and rolls to his side next to Nicky. ]

I hate being powerless to stop people from hurting you. [ He tenderly strokes his fingers down Nicky's cheek. ] Watching that doctor with her self-righteous bullshit hurt while I could do nothing will haunt me.

[ Booker is harder to talk about. He is furious. He is hurting. ] He is my brother. I never thought he would ever betray us. It hurts, Nicky and I don't know how to stop it.

[ Nicky adjusts so he can chase after him, rolling onto his side. He keeps drawing on Joe, but this time on his hip, tender and soft as he crooks his fingers. ] I am right here. Yes? Alive. Healthy. In love.

[ He understands, though. They thought they knew best, these modern scientists. No different than others who have tried before, all to no avail. Nicky is glad that Joe had been unconscious for much of his own testing, because it's not something he wants him to have witnessed. ]

What he did was wrong. He chose very poorly. And he will pay for it.

[ A hundred years, isolation, and they will not have to look at his face. ]

What I cannot shake is that he never apologized. He was only sorry because Andy was not healing. If she was still immortal...

[ Nicky is not sure that Booker would have even said a word. ]

And I'm still afraid to lose you. [ He curls towards Nicky seeking the physical reassurance of his presence. ] The idea of it rips my heart out.

[ This is why he doesn't want to talk about it. It hurts. All of it hurts. He hasn't hurt this much since they lost Quynh and couldn't find her. ]

Would you believe an apology from him right now? Would it ring true? One hundred years from now I'll believe he's sorry.

[ He kisses Nicky's temple. ]

But then I think about what he said. How much I gained by finding you. How much he lost. Could we have ever been enough to replace that?

[ Nicky understands that fear. He is awash with it constantly. They have been pressed together for nearly twenty-four hours and he is only now beginning to calm. HE cannot imagine truly losing him, or even if they had been parted in that lab. ]

I would not believe him. I do not think he is sorry. I do not think he thought about what we would endure, to be caught together, to be forced to watch the other suffer.

[ And that is why Nicky is filled with cold fury. Only Booker's plight had mattered. He had sold them out, for his own grief. ]

We could never be enough. We are not his children.

[ He tangles one hand in Joe's hair, the other gripping his hip tightly. ]

I'm very glad, now, that I took vows and there were no children of my own.

[ Joe's temper is the opposite. It burns hot and furious but burns itself out very quickly. His heart is soft for his family. ]

He wanted to die. I cannot imagine this feeling. That... hopelessness. Life is sacred.

[ It hurts to think that they didn't know it was that bad. That he missed it. But still, Nicky is right. It was a very selfish action. ]

Knowing my nieces and nephews would die was hard enough.

[ Nicky has only ever wanted to live from the moment Yusuf ensnared him and tempted him with his smile, his eyes, his steady hands, and even the way he pursued him so fiendishly on the battlefield. He'd been connected with his enemy, and then had fallen in love with him.

Death, for Nicky, had given him a soulmate. For Booker, it had taken one away. ]

We should have stopped him drinking, maybe. Sent him to grief counselling.

[ In as much as they could, with their immortality putting limits on them.

He soothes Joe with kisses all over his face, to his temples and his forehead and then his lips. ]

I know. I feel the same. It is good knowing that we have family out there, though. Their great-great-endlessly-great uncles still love them very much, of course.

[ They really did have everything one could want. A lifetime with the person they loved. Joe is deeply, endlessly, grateful every single day he wakes up with Nicky in his arms. ]

We can only hope he'll find it on his own now.

[ He presses into the kiss, soaking in the reassurance and love. ]

Perhaps when we go back to Jerusalem we might cross paths with them. I could claim I am tracing my family tree? Or no, that might risk too much.

[ Nicky drags one leg over Joe's hips to pull him in towards his body, wanting them flush together, even if he doesn't want to lose sight of that beautiful face in front of him. ]

Maybe this is what we should have done. After Jean-Pierre died, maybe he needed time, and not a team.

[ Nicky starts to push stands of hair from Joe's forehead back, leaning in to softly kiss. ] I did not keep track of my nieces and nephews. It would be a good project to undertake, maybe while we are here? It could be for a research paper on families in the Crusades?

We can't go back and change it. Neither can he. [ He slides his hand down Nicky's back and pulls their bodies flush together. ] We can only live with the consequences.

[ His hair has curled tightly from sweat. He closes his eyes and enjoys the sensation. ] It would be a more productive use of our time besides sex and napping.

[ He opens his eyes and gazes softly at Nicky. ] How are you so beautiful? It takes my breath every time I look at you.

[ Nicky wriggles a little to make sure that he's as close as possible, not wanting to be even an inch further from Joe than he has to be right now. The consequences are what's hurting them both, knowing their family is going to be changed for a hundred years.

He snorts at the compliment. ]

I am so beautiful because you are so romantic. To anyone else, I would not be so stunning, because they do not have your heart for romance or your poetry for words.

[ He's still smiling, softly, for the compliment, and his cheeks have a slight flush to them. ]

I would like to have a family tree, a proper one. You and me at the top, all our branches below.

Oh, you've had many admires over the years. I'm fairly certain Shakespeare would've kept you if he could.

[ What an amusing time that had been. Joe still can't hear any Shakespeare without exchanging a look with Nicky, sometimes amused and sometimes not. ]

The tree should go the other way around. We are the roots and they grow from us.

[ Almost like Copley's board showing the good they had done. The family that had kept going after they were 'gone'. It worked in Joe's mind. ]