Chapter Text
Juno Steel had seen a lot in his thirty-nine years of life. Strange monsters, empty martian wastelands, a cat that was actually a bomb - hell, he lived in Hyperion City, the strange things there were so numerous that he wouldn't know where to begin.
But this place was something else. When he heard that his team would be heading to Earth for their next mission, he had assumed they'd be landing somewhere in the massive trans-continental city that took up most of the planet's surface. Instead, he stared out at the endless expanse of tree trunks ahead of him and trying to wrap his head around the strange word that described this unfamiliar sight before him.
Forest.
The wind ruffled his hair, laced with the sound of birdsong and a scent like the pine candles that Rita bought for his office. But better. Cleaner. A scent of something real, and pure, the only continent on Earth that was a tangle of trees instead of metal and plasma; the only one that nature had reclaimed.
Juno took a tentative step off of the landing ramp of the spaceship. His boot sank slightly into the mud at the end of it. Mud was brown here; dust and dirt were brown here, instead of the red he was used to seeing on Mars. It was strange but somehow beautiful.
"Mistah Steeeeeeel!" exclaimed Rita, materializing at his right elbow. "Wow, you ever seen anything like this before? This is amazin'! Even prettier than Earth is on that show!" She hopped down from the landing ramp and took in a deep breath of forest air. "Mm, smell that! That's the smell a' being alive, Mistah Steel!"
"It's nice, yeah," said Juno as he followed her off the ramp. "Not like anything on Mars."
"Certainly not," remarked a cool voice behind him. Juno turned around, and there he was, in all of his glory; Peter Nureyev dressed more plainly than Juno had ever seen him. Since his usual style would be unrealistic for a trek through the forest, the thief was dressed in a plain green shirt, soft black slacks tucked into specialized boots, and a jacket designed to reflect body heat (they all had identical jackets, courtesy of Buddy). The only Nureyevian piece of his outfit was the single silver cuff on his left ear. It glinted now in the leaf-filtered sunlight. A shadow from the ship cut halfway across Nureyev's face, making his eyes sparkle through the partial darkness. He stepped forward into the light and smiled at Juno. "Ready for a hike?"
"I don't really get much of a choice, do I?"
"Not if you want us to make the deal that we need," said Buddy as she descended casually to the forest floor, Vespa on her arm.
Juno didn't especially care about the deal, but as a member of this team, he was obligated to work for it. Their ship was in need of a repair - what kind he wasn't sure, but the kind that would require them to fly out to Saturn for a new part. Except that the dealer Buddy had in mind didn't want payment in creds. For some reason, the price he had given them was a specimen of rare ivy that only grew on Earth. So here they were.
"You know the drill," said Buddy, indicating the tracker slung around her neck. "This plant is rare, but there should be some of it near here somewhere. All we have to do is walk around until this tracker picks up a nearby plant, collect it, and be on our way. It should be quick."
"Or it could not be," Juno grumbled.
"Don't be such a downer." Vespa and Buddy started off into the forest with Rita in tow; Jet would stay on the ship. Juno and Nureyev stood by the landing ramp for a moment and looked into the expanse of trees and fallen logs.
"Shall we?" said Nureyev. He angled his hand towards Juno just slightly enough that the detective could, if he so chose, reach out and take it.
Instead, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket and strode off into the forest. "We'd better find this ivy soon," he grouched, secretly hoping that they wouldn't so he could spend more time in this place. There wasn't much left in the world that managed to be both surprising and beautiful to him, but this was an exception, and he didn't want to give it up quite yet.
They wandered through the forest, clambering over fallen logs and along the edges of little creeks. Strange insects and animals flickered through the air at their presence. It was like they were scared of them. They stumbled upon a sleeping rabbit, and Juno noticed that it was tiny. He'd never seen a rabbit that small before - come to think of it, he'd never seen a rabbit outside of a sewer.
Rita babbled on like the brooks that they walked past. She pointed out every leaf, every dragonfly. Buddy had to surrender the tracker several times so that Rita could use it to identify a plant that she found interesting. "There's never been anythin' like this before!" she exclaimed. "Never, never, never!"
Eventually, they came to a wider brook. Luckily, this one had a fallen log over it. Unluckily, the banks were steep, making the log decently high up. Juno felt his stomach clench at the thought of walking over all that empty space. All that churning water.
"Something wrong, Juno?" asked Buddy, who, of course, was already crossing the log.
"No, nothing." Juno inhaled deeply. "Well yeah, actually. This thing is... it's high up."
"Mistah Steel's scared of heights," Rita explained.
"Well, take your time, darling," said Buddy as she stepped gracefully down on the other side. She frowned and looked at the tracker. "Wait, I think we have a reading. Juno, Fay, catch up to us once you get to the other side." And with that, the three of them dashed off.
Juno realized that Nureyev was still standing on this side of the river with him. He stepped back away from the log. "Go ahead."
"After you, detective." Juno didn't move. "Juno, are you nervous about crossing this?"
"I don't know." Juno eyed the water warily. "Just looks like a rough fall, you know?"
"I see."
Silence and rustling leaves.
"Would it help if I carried you?"
Immediately his face felt hot. "You don't have to," he said. True, Nureyev was probably more nimble than Juno, but the thought of plunging headfirst into a river suddenly looked more appealing than going inevitably going weak in the thief's strong arms. "I can just take my time."
"I don't mind. If you think it would help you."
He considered for a moment. Nureyev's dark eyes studied him as he studied the river. "Yeah, okay," he said. "Sure. Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
Then he was swept off his feet bridal-style, one of Nureyev's arms under his knees and the other around his shoulders, holding him gently but securely. In this close proximity, the fragrance of Nureyev's cologne was almost overwhelming, and Juno felt as dizzy as if he'd just chugged a bottle of whiskey. He felt his body rocking slightly as they started across the river and dared a look. Instantly he wished that he hadn't. The water below them rushed with a cold intensity that looked about as fun as a kick to the head. Juno hid his face in the shoulder of Nureyev's jacket and squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel the warmth of the thief's skin reflected in the jacket's material. God, this was intimate. Who would have thought?
"Are you alright, Juno?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."
Nureyev walked slowly, carefully. He set Juno down on the other side of the river, and Juno lifted his face. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it. We should probably rejoin the rest of our..." Nureyev looked around the forest.
"...where is everyone?" Juno finished.
"How should I know where they are?"
"I had my eyes closed! You should have seen where they went!"
"Well, I was distracted."
"Distracted? What were you looking at that was so interesting it made you lose track of our team?"
"Let's just go find them, shall we." Nureyev pushed past him and strode off into the forest. Juno looked after him, puzzling - until suddenly he realized that the thief had probably been looking at him. The thought sent a wave of emotion through him, though what exactly the emotion was, hell if he knew. He followed Nureyev, calling "Vespa? Buddy? Where the hell are you guys?"
So the two of them crashed through the forest, shouting for the rest of their team. They'd been looking for hours with no success. Juno had the bright idea to follow their teammates' footprints, but then remembered that they were all wearing the specialized boots which didn't leave any footprints. So that bright idea dimmed quickly. Peter Nureyev was usually as silent as... well, silence, but now he winced as twigs snapped and leaves crunched under his high heel-less feet. Juno thought about making some snide joke, something like "Guess sneaking around is easier when you know where you're going, huh?" but decided against it. He didn't want the thief more annoyed at him than he already had reasons to be. Instead, he climbed over logs and down the sides of the shallow hills that appeared in the complex geography of the forest.
After a long time, they came upon a flock of birds in a patch of wild heather, sunlight slanting through branches like windowpanes. Juno stopped walking and looked at the birds, which looked back at him with their empty eyes. The flock didn't fly away until Nureyev was only two feet away from them. One of them didn't fly away at all, just stayed there pecking at the heather. It tipped its shiny head at Nureyev quizzically and allowed him to pick it up.
"They don't know to be scared of us," Nureyev murmured, trailing a fingertip down the bird's feathers. He looked back at Juno. The dying sunlight shone across his face, turning his eyes to golden orbs and setting shimmering patches over his black hair like the shimmering patches on the feathers of the black bird. Juno felt like he was seeing the world for the first time, his heart thudding against his ribs. He stood up to his knees in heather and watched the golden sunlight make patterns on Peter Nureyev's hair. Nureyev smiled slightly and flicked his wrist. The bird flapped away into the sky, and soon it was lost amidst the other birds.
"We're not going to find the rest of the team soon," Nureyev sighed, stretching his arms out. He sat down on a boulder beside the heather and cupped his perfectly formed face between his slender hands. "We must have gone in the opposite direction as them."
Juno sat next to Nureyev and unslung his bag. "Maybe we should just wait here?"
"And just hope they come across us?"
"Do you have any better ideas?"
"I can think of at least ten ideas that are marginally better than just sitting and waiting."
Suddenly he didn't seem so hot anymore. "Yeah? Well, I'd love to hear them, Nureyev, I really would."
"Are you always so obstinate? Our team has disappeared!"
Juno scoffed. "What happened to 'I'm usually the one disappearing, not the one left behind'?" he replied in a bad imitation of Nureyev's accent. It was a weak stab at being funny, but Nureyev looked back at him in surprise. In that brief silence, Juno wondered if maybe he had said something wrong; if invoking that line of Nureyev's was a mistake. Then suddenly the thief burst out laughing.
"What?" Juno asked, confused. "What's so funny?"
"That is not at all what I sound like!"
"That's exactly what you sound like."
Nureyev laughed harder, a long and genuine sound that turned into a snort. Juno found a broad, stupid grin had crept across his face. Never mind, he's hot again. Nureyev covered his mouth and giggled.
"You-" He exclaimed. "You are - absolutely impossible, Juno Steel."
"Yeah, that's why I'm good to have around."
"I guess so." Nureyev wiped his eyes and laughed again. He swiveled around on the stone and looked full in Juno's face. "I missed you."
Oh.
OH.
There it was again. That invitation to talk about their shared past. To bring the emotional baggage out into the open. To... actually dredge up all of the stupid mistakes Juno had made a year ago.
And Juno wanted that, he did, but he didn't want the consequences. They'd started to build something together in these past few days. Trust. They'd shared a bed when Nureyev was stabbed, for goodness sake, what if talking things through undid all that? He could still remember that night in the infirmary, the air smelling like several dozen candle scents and warm with the heat of the thief's fever. He had lain awake watching the man sleep for hours, tracing his fingertips over the soft ridges of Nureyev's cheekbones and jawline. He hadn't touched Nureyev since, except for being carried across the river just now. He pushed it out of his mind. It was physical contact, but it was just that. There was no trust behind it yet, no intention - an arm around his shoulders was just an arm around his shoulders, nothing more.
Juno turned his face away and looked instead at the sky.
"Nice sunset," he observed.
"Yes." Nureyev's voice sounded slightly disappointed, but he didn't press the matter. He lay back on the boulder and gazed up at the brushstrokes of color in the air above them. "Lovely." Juno watched him watching the sky; the lenses of his glasses reflecting the pink and orange of the sky above the dark galaxies of his eyes. When he closed them, his feathery lashes brushed across his cheeks, casting shadows onto his face; his lips curved in a gentle smile. He was so beautiful. It took a lot of self-restraint to keep Juno from just grabbing his gorgeous face and kissing those perfect lips. Instead, he lay back next to Nureyev on the boulder and watched the sky with him.
Eventually, when the sky darkened all the way, the thief sat up, his elegant ankles crossed. He took out the survival kit that Buddy had given to him and laid it on the boulder, unsnapping the clutch. "Let's at least see what we have to work with." His nimble fingers sorted out a small first-aid kit, a sleeping bag folded into a very small square, a pack of firestarters, an instruction manual for building shelter. Juno read over his shoulder. "None of this makes sense," he grumbled.
"We can start a fire, at least. If you like."
"Sure."
So Nureyev gathered together some wood and sticks, dumped the firestarter packet from inside the kit, and lit a match. The heather crackled and snapped. Soon a circle of it around the fire was brown and shriveled, and the air smelled like flowers. Nureyev pulled a packet of cigarettes from the inside of his pocket and dipped the end of one cigarette into the fire. He pressed it between his sharp teeth and leaned against the rock. When he exhaled, the smoke curled around his shadowed face. He was so stunning it made Juno's heart ache. "Would you like one?" he asked through a cloud of smoke.
"No, thanks."
"Suit yourself." The thief took another long draw on the cigarette and let the smoke filter out between his lips. Juno watched him for a little longer and twisted his jacket between his fingertips.
"Nureyev?"
"Yes?"
"I." Juno scratched the back of his neck and stared at the ground. "I. Um. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry for... for what happened a year ago." He could feel the heat of Nureyev's gaze on him but ignored it as words tumbled out of his mouth. "In the hotel room. I did a stupid thing and I've regretted it more than I can tell you. I really have. I want to go back and undo all of that. I don't know if I would have gone with you, but I wish that I had done -something. You - you deserved better than me. And I'm so, so goddamn sorry." He ducked his head lower. "That's all."
The fire crackled in the circle of dead heather and they were silent for a long time.
"Well," said Nureyev eventually. "That's not what I was expecting, but I appreciate the sentiment."
"Don't do that," said Juno. "Don't - don't try to make this into a joke. C'mon. Please."
"I'm not joking, Juno."
Juno made himself meet Nureyev's gaze. "You-you aren't?"
"Certainly not." He smiled. "I appreciate the sentiment. I truly do. I wasn't expecting any kind of apology from you."
"Are you still... I don't know, angry at me?"
"I was never angry at you, Juno. Well, not for very long," he amended. His lay his soft hand over Juno's leg and looked into his eyes; Juno felt his soul leave his body temporarily. "I was hurt by what happened," Nureyev said. "I won't deny that. I offered you everything I had to offer and fell asleep thinking you had accepted it; I woke up and you were gone. There was no scenario in which that wouldn't hurt me. But I assume you knew that already."
Juno nodded dully, unsure what to say in response to any of that. Eventually, he settled on laying his hand over Nureyev's. "You," he said. "You are really beautiful."
"Mm." Nureyev smiled. "So are you."
At that point Juno really couldn't wait any longer, so he leaned over.