Work Text:
Adam sighed, knowing that despite how much he'd dreaded this moment, it was time.
As he leaned over the edge of the viking boat with his arms crossed, staring at the crystal blue waters shining underneath the harsh sunlight, he took a deep breath and turned to Reeve.
"About that conversation you overheard . . when I was talking to Mira about you . ."
But it was clear Reeve wasn't eager to do this either. His brows were drawn, and he had his arms closer to his body. He was looking straight at Adam, but Adam couldn't tell what that was in his eyes, and that scared him a little. Disappointment? Regret? Anger?
"Let's not do this right now." He looked away.
But Adam was determined to continue. They'd hurt each other long enough, it was time to tell the truth and stop, for both their sakes. Even if they couldn't he didn't know how much longer he could keep it up. He uncrossed his arms and stared straight out at the open sea.
"Because if you had, youd've heard me say that I could never do that to you. Because beyond "The Hollow," beyond being my teammate, we . . we loved each other. I'm sorry, I should have talked to you about it. It wasn't fair to you what I did, hiding that from you. At all."
Reeve didn't react for a couple seconds, and he was wondering if his words reached him before Reeve let his hands drop from the edge of the railing, staring down at the churning waves which were rocking the boat. But that had nothing to do with Adam's queasiness, caused by the overflowing guilt. Was Reeve still angry? Would they still have to keep fighting? Would he never tell Adam how he could possibly make up for his horrible mistake? He'd just resigned himself to potentially never getting his own boyfriend back and drowning in the depression that came with it when suddenly he felt an impact and there were gentle arms wrapping around his body, shielding him from the world that had done nothing but hurt them since they came here, making him feel safe, protected. He nuzzled in close to inhale the familiar scent, glad to be rid for a moment of the stink of saltwater. His own arms came up to Reeve's nape and to rest between his shoulder blades. He burrowed his face into the crook of Reeve's neck, savoring a loving touch he missed, had been starved of for so long, and a warmth bloomed inside him, a fire crackling to life low in his belly. His heart beat a little faster, but it felt giddy, wonderful. He was where he was meant to be.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I should have . . I should have asked, I should have checked with Mira I should have tried to talk to you and figure things out but . . " Reeve's voice was thick and heavy with emotion, and he started trailing off only seconds before Adam realized he was choking up. He could see the regret plain on his face, the hints of moisture at the corners of his eyes that he doubted were sea-spray, and he hated that Reeve was hurting this much for whatever reason, that both of them had for as long as they'd been apart.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," he whispered in his ear, bringing his right hand up off Reeve's back to brush a lock of hair out of those beautifully dark eyes. They were so deep, so intense. So perfect. Only Adam knew how to read them, tell the flirty looks from the angry ones, the sad ones from the teasing ones. Only he knew Reeve like this, so intimately.
Which is how he knew exactly what was going on with Reeve now, and what that look meant. They both shared blame, but now Reeve was going to heap all the guilt onto his plate, and Adam wasn't going to let that happen. So he said what was on his mind.
"It was both our faults. I . . I should have gone to you, I should have tried to tell you about how I was feeling, about why I was getting so frustrated with you for seemingly no reason . . I had no right to just go and abandon you like that with no explanation-"
Reeve opened his mouth to protest, but Adam quickly put a stop to that and held up a hand to cut him off so he could continue.
"-but again, we're both a little at fault here. I'm just happy that . . that in the end we both figured that out and that we're together again . wait-" Adam abruptly swung his head up, almost bashing Reeve's chin in the process, his lithe frame going stiff as fear seized him with a cold hand. Some messed up things had happened lately, he needed this to be real.
"-we are back together? Right? Like, for real? This isn't . . a dream or some kind of twisted glitch-"
He didn't even have the chance to finish his sentence. And then there were lips smashing against his and a hand crawling up under his shirt, a warm palm tenderly pressing on his chest over where he could feel his heart thudding like a jackhammer and about to break through his rib cage. He flushed at the touch, unused to it. But at the same time there was the overwhelming feeling of wanting more. Reeve sensed this and eagerly poured more passion into the kiss, whether to make up for all the time they'd been apart or because in the heat of the moment neither wanted to hold back, he didn't know. One of Reeve's hands came up to run sensually through his hair and euphoria burst through Adam's veins. He felt weightless, like he wasn't even on Earth. It a feeling exaggerated by the soft lips pressing into an even deeper kiss, robbing him of oxygen and taking him straight to cloud nine.
When they pulled apart at last, gasping for air, Adam was at a loss for words, and he shivered when Reeve licked his swollen lips, glancing slyly up at Adam as he straightened up.
"Well, I hope that answered your question." The way his gaze rested on Adam though, like he'd just rediscovered the most precious thing in the world to him, made Adam believe him wholeheartedly.
Adam chuckled, still breathless from the possibly the best kiss he'd ever had, only second to their very first kiss on the fourth of July, beneath a thousand fireworks lighting up the dark. It was a memory of a seemingly completely different time and place. One so far away.
Now however, he felt the cool sea-breeze on his skin, heard piercing sound of crying gulls reaching his ears. He felt the motions of the boat as it gently swayed underneath his feet, rocked by the waves, and he made a mistake as he leaned a little too far left, reaching out a hand to try to grasp the railing for balance, when Reeve reached out his own to take it firmly, steadying him. He felt a pang in his heart at how much the touch grounded him, reminded him he wasn't alone and unsteady without anyone anymore. Adam felt more than grateful for the return of his rock, the person that centered his world. Although, a small tug in the back of his mind reminded him that they were in a new world. That they didn't know what was going to happen to them. If this would last. Them, together.
But then he glanced sideways at Reeve, who smiled, almost shyly, with hope and love in his eyes as he intertwined their fingers, rubbing soft, reassuring circles onto Adam's thumb, squeezing it tight, Adam felt a new hope come on to him, a spark ignited in his belly. He squeezed Reeve's hand back as tightly as he could.
Yes, they may have stumbled into a new world, but they would make it through whatever challenges they would face in it, together.