Chapter Text
“I’m back!” Echo shouted as he closed the door of his shop.
He went straight upstairs and put the donut package he had bought from the local 24/7 mart on the table.
“I’ve got some donuts for breakfast if you…” he trailed off after opening his bedroom door.
Somehow he had managed to convince Vigil to lay down on his bed, since he did not even have a couch. Then he had left to go get something to eat—he had been neglecting his fridge lately—and now Vigil was gone.
The painkillers Echo had given him were untouched on the bedside table. The wrinkles on the bed sheets were the only giveaway of Vigil ever being there.
—
Sitting in the corner of the counters in Echo’s kitchen was Vigil’s mask. Echo was having a stare down with the aforementioned mask while eating dinner as he was convinced it was mocking him.
Hibana had brought it to him the morning after she had realized it had been forgotten in her car, not knowing that Vigil had already been gone for hours. She had called Dokkaebi who let her know that Vigil was fine and safe in 707 care and promised that he would come by as soon as he could to retrieve the mask.
So, Echo concluded, Vigil had just left of his own volition as soon as he had turned his back for a moment. First he arrived severely injured and then he just left after he had been taken care of and Echo went out to get donuts.
Disappointment and anger were mixed tightly in Echo’s chest. It hurt and looking at Vigil’s expressionless mask did not help at all. He had been dreading for three whole days the moment Vigil would show up to get it back.
As he finished cleaning up the kitchen, the mask was there observing him with its empty eyes. When he was laying in bed, he felt haunted by it, not able to get the mask and Vigil’s face distorted in pain out of his mind. It was not late at all, but he just could not do anything else when his focus was all over the place.
Knocks came from the front door. Surely it was Vigil.
As he quickly ran downstairs, mask in hand, Echo rehearsed his plan of operations. Let Vigil in, give him his mask, say goodnight. Simple and effective.
“Hey,” Echo greeted as he opened the door, unsurprised at seeing Vigil standing in front of him. He handed over the mask before Vigil even had time to greet him back. “Here it is.”
Vigil took his mask from Echo’s hands, turning it over for a brief inspection and then looked at him. “Can I come in?”
“I was…” Echo started, trying to come up with an excuse in a fraction of a second as to why he did not want to spend time with him.
“I would like to talk to you,” Vigil insisted. After seeing that Echo was neither inviting him nor closing the door, he added a ‘please’.
Stunned into silence, Echo could not reply. He was a curious man at heart, so he trashed his plan of keeping it brief and let Vigil in with a nod.
—
Vigil put his mask on the table and sat in front of Echo. He looked tense, but fine otherwise, as if he did not sustain heavy blood loss a few days ago.
“How are you?” Echo asked. He could not help but worry about Vigil’s health.
“I am good now.” Vigil put his hands together above the table and fidgeted with the fingertips. “First of all, I wanted to thank you for helping me once again.”
Echo nodded in acknowledgement, unsure of where Vigil was directing the conversation.
“I also wanted to apologize for coming to you in the first place.” Vigil continued bashfully. “You were right. I have an entire organization covering my back and I chose to come to you in the middle of the night.”
Vigil was not a man of many words, Echo already knew that. Still, he was taken aback by how direct his statement was and he felt guilt that he had given Vigil the wrong impression. He was the one who shouted in anger, so he could not fault anyone but himself.
“Look, it’s not that I do not want you to come to me when you need help,” Echo started, “but I’d prefer if my closest friends would stop getting severely injured altogether.”
“Hibana is very skilled. Nothing will happen to her.”
“I am not talking about Hibana, Vigil.”
Vigil looked up from his hands to meet Echo’s eyes for a second, then he averted his gaze to the side. “I know.”
Echo scoffed. Is Vigil acting dense on purpose?
“I appreciate it that you came to me for help, but I am not a doctor. What if I wouldn’t have been able to help you?” He asked.
Vigil stayed silent.
“Vigil?” Echo insisted.
Still no answer.
Since Vigil seemed like he wanted to be obstinate in his silence, Echo got up and started making tea.
While he waited for the water to boil Echo observed him. Vigil was staring at his hands and his eyebrows were knitted in thought. The frown and the little crinkles of skin around his eyes gave him a somber look.
Once Echo placed a warm cup of tea in front of him, Vigil wrapped his hands around it and looked up at him with a grateful nod.
“Man, you are quite the puzzle,” Echo said, leaning his hips against the counter and taking a sip from his own cup. “You come in need of help and leave when I go out to buy us donuts.”
Again, no answer.
“I had to eat them all myself!” Echo added, in a sarcastic tone.
The smallest of smirks appeared on Vigil’s face. “I am sorry for that,” he said, playing along.
“It’s not good for my physique.” Echo moved his hands along his body for emphasis.
“You look good though,” Vigil said with a plain voice, before taking a sip from his cup.
From the surprise at what he had just heard, a compliment coming from Vigil nonetheless, Echo almost choked on his tea. As he was cleaning the corner of his mouth with a fingertip, he met Vigil’s eyes, who was observing him intently.
“Thank you… I guess.” Very smooth, Echo, very smooth. In an attempt to recover his pride he added, “you look good too, very good in fact.”
One of Vigil’s rare chuckles made an appearance and, even though Echo was quite embarrassed at the moment, he was stricken by it. Echo himself was the cause of Vigil delight, Echo’s awkwardness more like, but still that made him feel realized.
Looking at the tea swishing in his cup and trying to appear as aloof as possible, Echo felt Vigil’s eyes on him. Their roles, the starer and the one being stared at, were suddenly reversed.
“I would have never expected to find such a talented engineer in a shop like this the first time I knocked on your door,” Vigil said after a minute of silence. “You seem to not realize your potential, and if you do then you have given up on your talent. You could work for any corporation you'd like and yet here you are.”
Echo’s heart clenched in his chest. He was aware of it. Very much so.
He put his empty cup on the counter and looked back at Vigil, meeting his eyes. “I was in the military and… that fucked me up.”
Vigil remained silent, so he continued.
“I used to build racing drones when I was in school, with a friend. He’d take care of the flying part and I’d do the rest. We used to participate in underground races. It was fun and we’d get in top positions sometimes too.” Echo smiled at the memories. “I wanted to get into an engineering school, but they are so expensive. So I joined the military to study and after I finished studying… things didn’t go so well for me.”
Just by looking at his face, Echo was not able to understand what Vigil’s thoughts were, but he did not interrupt him so he sighed, trying to loosen his nerves, and continued his story.
“I left at the first chance I got and then I bought this place,” he waved a hand around the room, “and started doing repairs for the locals. Then I started building and selling drones. The rest you know.”
“It must not have been easy,” Vigil said.
“Yeah, so pardon me if I am not working to my full potential,” Echo replied in a mocking tone, but lacking any malice he could’ve put in it.
Suddenly, Vigil got up from the table with a screech of the chair, cup of tea forgotten, and walked to stand next to Echo who was now looking at the cracks of his kitchen floor.
“Are you happy?”
The question was unexpected, but Echo did not hesitate to answer. “More than when I was working for them.”
“Then you do not need to work at your full potential, Echo, unless that would make you happier.” Vigil took Echo’s hand in his own, slowly as if to test he was allowed to do so. It was cold. “You are still doing great work though. You built these arms for me. You are not a medic nor an implant surgeon and still you built and installed them for me because I needed them.”
Echo lifted his face to look at Vigil’s. He was so close.
“I used to have to soak my arms in ice water after every mission.” Vigil paused for a moment. “What I mean is that you are a great engineer and I wish you’d realize that too.”
Building drones was Echo’s specialty, he knew he was great at it, but he understood what Vigil was getting at. Being a good engineer does not mean being successful, sometimes it just means making the best out of the worst.
“You are complimenting me so much.” Echo was smiling, proud and embarrassed at the same time.
“It seems like I am,” Vigil answered, his hand tightening around Echo’s. “Since I am here I might as well say that I think you are a great person too, not just a great engineer.”
Echo’s eyes were going all over Vigil’s face, from the dilated pupils to the lips pressed together. He noticed Vigil’s eyes were wandering too, moving around Echo’s face but also around the room and looking at their joined hands. Looking at their hands too, Echo realized that maybe Vigil’s attraction to him was just as great as his own attraction that he had been trying to deny all this time.
Vigil, who had always looked like he was worshiping his personal space as sacred ground, had been standing so close to him, like never before, and Echo would be lying if he said he was not thinking about the possibility of a kiss happening in less than five minutes.
“Then I will add that I think you are a great person too,” Echo said, still smiling.
Then, unexpectedly, Vigil came closer, put his other hand on Echo’s cheek and kissed the corner of his mouth, leaving Echo stunned.
After a moment, Echo recovered and kissed him back, putting his free hand on Vigil’s waist.
“I’m sorry,” Vigil said after they separated.
“For what?” Echo asked, worried.
“For jumping on you.”
“That merely classifies as ‘jumping’, Vigil.” Echo laughed, then he added, smirking, “but if you’re interested you can jump into bed with me and stay here for the night.”
Vigil looked taken aback by the explicit offer. “I do not do one night stands.”
“Then we’ll have to do it again tomorrow. If you want to, of course.”
He seemed to consider his options for a moment, then Vigil nodded, now convinced.
Pulling him with their hands still joined together, Echo directed him towards his bedroom.
The smile Vigil was giving him was blinding and Echo was relishing in it.
—
With his face squished against Vigil’s naked chest, his arm over his still bandaged torso and legs intertwined, Echo slowly woke up. As the memories of the previous night started to trickle in, Echo’s sleepy smile grew. He could feel Vigil’s hands on his hips, slowly circling his thumb.
Nuzzling closer, Echo enjoyed the quiet morning for a bit. He had feared that Vigil would have left by the time he had woken up. He was happy to have been proved wrong.
He gently ran his hand over the implant socket on Vigil’s chest, following the edge of it with his fingertips. During the night, he had noticed many more of those all over Vigil’s body, on his back, shoulders and thighs too.
“How many implants do you have?” Echo asked in a low voice. He might as well satisfy his curiosity now that they were in bed, naked, together.
“Just my arms.”
“Then what is this?” Echo tapped a finger on the center of the patch of synthetic skin covering the metal platings.
“A socket to host mods,” Vigil answered.
“Mods not connected to your body then?” Echo asked, confused. “What kind of mods do you have that do not need to connect to the rest of your body?”
“They are part of the hardware that allows me to infiltrate corporate buildings, together with my mask.”
Since Vigil seemed to not want to continue explaining, Echo asked, “what does it do?”
“Dokkaebi infiltrates remotely into the security system and allows me to be practically invisible on the cameras’ feed. The mods keep an accurate track of my movements.”
Echo shot up from where he was laying to look at Vigil’s face in confusion. “What?”
“Have you not checked your security cameras since I broke into your shop?” Vigil retaliated, propping himself up on an elbow.
Confused and in disbelief, Echo got up from the bed, crumpling the sheets into a ball in his haste. He wore the first pair of underwear he found on the ground pretty sure that it was his and went straight to his computer downstairs.
By the time Vigil joined him, fully dressed of course, Echo had found the footage of that night and was playing it in fullscreen. Sure enough, there he was pointing his gun at nothing. He turned around to look at Vigil, his mouth agape.
Vigil, who was standing just behind him, had the audacity to smirk at his bewilderment.
“If I wouldn’t have heard you, would you have just left?”
“I would have, yes,” Vigil admitted, “but in hindsight, I am glad you did hear me.”
Echo got up from the chair and put his hands on the sides of Vigil’s face before kissing him softly. “I am glad I did too.”