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Jack took a deep breath, letting it out explosively a moment later, as he glanced over at Harry, whose arm was flung above his head, expression relaxed and satisfied in a way that made him want to reach over and kiss him senseless. Shaking his head, Jack shifted until he could sit up against the frail wooden headboard, ignored the look that was shot his way when he reached into the bedside table and pulled out a lighter and cigarette.
“Please tell me you aren’t going to light that.”
He paused with it halfway to his lips, found Harry watching him with that damned eyebrow raised like he already knew the answer, “I can go outside,” he shrugged. “While you take a shower.”
It was needed, his stomach still a mess and sweat clinging to his skin in a way that made him want to fuck the man all over again. There wasn’t time for that though, something they both knew well as their watches slowly and obnoxiously ticked in the otherwise quiet room.
Harry sighed, ran a hand through his hair and it occurred to him that the man looked tired, not with the usual jet lag or post-battle adrenalin dip… just tired. They’d been doing this for a little over a year, sending coded messages and dropping everything to book a one-way flight to Hopedale, Newfoundland and Labrador. This sleepy little town, nestled almost exactly halfway between the United Stated and United Kingdom, was out of the way enough that they didn’t need to worry about who might be watching or following.
When the man didn’t make another sound, his gaze faraway, Jack reached over and absently brushed back his hair from his damp forehead, earned himself an astute, considering gaze for his efforts. Harry was always lookin at him like that, like he was a puzzle he was trying to solve, like he made sense only in the context of how they first met…when he didn’t know anything about anything.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked quietly, the same question that he always asked when he used to visit him in that blindingly white room. “Anything exciting?”
Harry’s lips twitched before he reached over to snag his cigarette and lighter. The chuckle that slipped out of his lips as the man lit it and took a long drag was both startled and appreciative. He hadn’t answered his questions and he didn’t need to, what they were doing was nice, a great distraction, and he wasn’t in the habit of lying to himself when his feelings started getting involved.
It was a hard thing…not to love a man like Harry. So far, he’d gotten to see two sides to the man, and both made him want to grab him close and disappear into one of those crowded cities without a word about his loyalties. There was a reason why their agencies banned romantic relationships, because anything that could make you abandoned your hard-earned sense of duty, was one hell of a dangerous thing.
“Last one for awhile uh?” he asked finally, watching as Harry blew out a stream of smoke on a heavy exhale.
“Yes,” he murmured, not quiet meeting his eye. “I think so.”
He nodded, not that the man would see it, and cracked his neck again before slipping from the bed and headed for the bathroom. Harry got like that sometimes, felt overwhelmed with guilt at what they were doing, needed to back off and let the feelings settle a bit before they’d end up right back here.
Jack found he didn’t mind.
One of them had to keep things going in the right direction, needed to keep their head on straight and manage the relationship. Frankly, Jack knew he felt things just a bit too deeply to be reasonable and if that meant being at Harry’s beck and call whenever the man was ready…well he figured he’d earned a simple kind of happiness after all this time.
Twisting on the shower until steam billowed from it, he stretched again, grimacing at the ache in his back and too sore muscles, he was getting old, and nimble as he was, well the shit they did certainly took a toll on his body. Just as he moved to step into the shower, the glass steamed up and the sound creating a comforting background noise, two familiar arms slipped around his waist.
“I’m sorry,” Harry’s accented voice, low husky at his ear, made him smile.
“Don’t worry sugar, you take all the time you need.”
He could practically feel Harry turn his eye heavenwards, none too fond of the nicknames that he really couldn’t hold back when he was with the man, “this hasn’t exactly been a fair arrangement for you.”
Practical and stupid, too things that went well with a Kingsman, “if I had a problem with this arrangement, I would stop showing up.” Turning around in the man’s arms, Jack tapped at his temple, “don’t be getting condescending on me. I am exactly where I want to be, and you would know if I wanted to change things up.” Harry was frowning, even if the corner of his lip was twitching just slightly, and the sight prompted to him continue, to make it clear that he didn’t care if the Kingsman called the shots, Jack was more than happy to follow. “But if you want to end things, all you have to do is say so.”
The furrow between his brows was instant, along with the tightening of his arms, “no, I have no intention of ending this.”
His tone was strained, as it often was when they spoke frankly about their situation and Jack couldn’t help but laugh a little, before gripping his chin and pulling him into a kiss, if only to wipe away the put-out expression on his face. Harry met him easily, as he always did, and for a moment, there was only the cloying, damp heat from the shower and the sound of the water pattering against the tiles. At his hip, he could feel Harry’s renewed interest and he figured being a little late back home…wouldn’t be the end of the world.