Chapter Text
Mark had dumped his rain-jacket over the side of Mindy’s couch as Mindy discarded her bag by the kitchen counter. Her palm sat on the countertop, her fingers drumming in impatience. Mark's hands rested on his hips, his lip chewed between his teeth as he watched Mindy watching him.
“Oh, fuck it-” His words were as rushed as he was, striding over to her to kiss her immediately. His hands moved from her cheeks into her hair and down her side to the small of her back. Boots and shoes were kicked off as Mindy’s jacket fell to the floor. Mindy walked Mark backwards, not daring to separate their lips even as Mark tumbled back onto her couch and she fell forward with him. It had been too long, too subtle and gentle and they were both bored with it - it had been too long getting to know one another when they were really after something more.
Breathing became laboured in the rush as Mindy’s left hand cupped at Mark’s face while her right ran through his hair, yet neither of them could bring themselves to stop for air. Mark pushed Mindy’s glasses up onto her head while Mindy brought a hand out his hair to unzip his hoodie. With a small shift to have Mindy’s knees either side of Mark’s waist, he tried to pull her lower against him with a flat palm sitting heavy at the small of her back. Mindy tried to follow the signal, but her loose glasses fell down from their perch, hitting Mark in the face and causing an unexpected fit of laughter. Mindy gently removed them from where they cracked over Mark’s nose to place them on her coffee table.
“Oh no,” She apologised through her giggles. “I’m sorry.”
“S’okay, they can fix broken noses these days.” Mark replied, pinching the bridge of his nose and wincing. “Why are your glasses made of steel?”
“They’re not, I promise.” Mindy assured, lifting Mark’s hand away to gently kiss the side of his nose where a red score appeared. “You’re not bleeding, just scratched.”
“Injured in the first five minutes, I can’t believe it.”
“Are you too sore to continue?” She teased as she sat back on him looking a little dishevelled, “We could do this another night, if you’re not feeling up to it.”
“No, I’m fine, I’m definitely up for it.” Mark affirmed as he sat up to run a finger under her jaw and bring her lips back to his. They were both impatient to get to skin as their hands ran up shirts and pulled at buttons on jeans. Neither of them had been under any illusion as to how tonight would end - the affectionately flirty dinner in the back booth of an unknown restaurant, as well as the prolonged privacy without any interruptions from press or fans alike, set it up nicely. They were finally alone together and finally finished ‘getting to know’ each other.
She sighed briefly between viscid kisses as Mark shuffled her legs around his waist before sitting up. “What’re you doing?”
“No room here, moving next door.” He replied quickly as he carried her through, pausing to lean against her doorframe for a longer kiss that brought a short moan from Mark. After his mind cleared enough for him to keep going, he made his way to sit at the edge of Mindy’s bed. She sat up from his lap, intending on pushing him back, but his subtle resistance had her wordlessly questioning what.
“Off.” Tugging on her hem of her shirt, they only broke apart long enough to pull the shirt from her head and let Mark drop it off to his left. His right hand went immediately to traverse the soft planes of skin as Mindy’s hands were running under Mark’s shirt, asking the same of him. She didn’t get the glance of him that he had of her since she was more interested in exploration by touch than sight. Jeans had been quickly flung to the floor following the shirts and Mark had led Mindy by her hands up to the middle of her bed. Mindy took a moment to sit back, run a hand through her hair and breathe, the sight she opened half lidded eyes to was enough to stop time around her.
“Oh-” She couldn’t stop the surprise leaving her lips while she stared, almost dizzy from realisation.
“What?” Worry clear in his tone, Mindy couldn’t remove her eyes long enough to quell any concerns. “What?”
“I’ve never… seen it before,” Mindy crawled slowly over her bed to Mark who was now piqued with stress. She reached out to let her fingers run over the scar on Mark’s abdomen. “I forgot about it.”
She let her thumb graze it, feeling the scar tissue in it’s depth. It all came too quickly that the thumbnail-width gauge in Mark’s side was the physical emblem for everything that had happened. Mindy thought on his as she examined it, thinking how something so small caused so many months of chaos for the whole world. And how something that size was directly responsible for almost taking Mark’s life several different times over, meanwhile, in a way, it sort of pushed them together. She struggled with how she felt about it, her battle etched in a pull of her brow. She supposed, however, now was not the time for a debate - especially when she already knew the conclusion; it was a part of him and she would love it like the rest.
“Does it bother you?” Mark asked, his voice quiet and hesitant while his eyes searched hers for an answer. Mindy shook her head with a soft smile as she raised her left hand to sit over his cheek.
“No,” She replied simply before pressing a gentle kiss to his lips. To prove her word, she pushed a little back from him and bent down. Her hand remained against his cheek as she pressed her lips to the scar tissue, sending all the care into it that she had pent up from all those years watching him from her satellites. “Not at all.” She felt him sigh in relief from under her as she made her way back to his jawline.
“I’m just glad you made it back,” Her hand covered his scar as her brow piqued, “scars and all.”
Mindy grinned after she assessed him with a bitten lip and a hot blush as she wrapped her arms over his shoulders to kiss him harshly, trying to convey even the bare minimum of what she felt for him.