Work Text:
I listened to this song while writing this and highly recommend it to play it while reading:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kis2hQciUpw
***
Kerry lit a cigarette with relish as he put his head back in his neck. It was a warm summer night, his hair blowing in the wind as he drove with his boyfriend through the wasteland of the Badlands. He closed his eyes; the sun had set some time ago. V sat at the wheel of the convertible, his silver hair pinned into a high bun, a billowing shirt clinging to his muscular body thanks to the driving wind. One hand leaned out the window, the other on the steering wheel. He glanced at the road ahead. The two had no destination, no time limit. They had only each other, the music, the wind. The intimacy of being with each other. Kerry loved these moments, here he was not Kerry Eurodyne, music extraordinaire, here he was Ker, V's boyfriend, just a passenger in a ride that would hopefully never end. His golden cybernetics glistened when the two passed a lonely lamppost, his neck vibrating gently while humming to the rhythmic minimalistic music of FM 98, Night City.
"I never thought I'd spend my evenings driving through the night of the NUSA steppe with the man of my dreams," V mused.
Kerry smirked.
"Neither would I have."
He put a hand on V's thigh and squeezed gently. A sign of love, of appreciation. It was the little moments between them that he cherished so much. The way V tapped the steering wheel to the rhythm of the music, the way he always got up 2 minutes before Kerry to heat the bath, V licking his lips after every little kiss, as if he had to savor everything about Kerry to the last. V had never paid attention to it and Kerry never wanted to tell him about it, for fear he would stop.
V also appreciated a lot of things about Kerry that most people didn't see. How he applied his eye liner with skillful precision and usually forgot to wash it off in the evening, how he inevitably smirked every time V told him about his adventures as a Merc, how he stuck his tongue out ever so slightly so he could concentrate while playing guitar. God, V was in love.
Kerry took a drag on his cigarette and handed it to V. He had taken up the smoking habit thanks to Johnny, but unlike a few decades ago, there was no need to worry about dying from nicotine these days. Especially not if your boyfriend was a Trauma Platinum member. V sighed with pleasure. The sweet smell of freedom mixed with smoke and sweat rose to his nose.
"I love you V," Kerry murmured, now moving his hand from his lover's lap to his hand on the steering wheel. V couldn't suppress a grin.
"I love you Ker."
"You know," Kerry began hesitantly. V just hummed encouragingly. The two used the time alone to share their worries and fears with each other. Here they felt safe and secure.
"The day you... no the day Johnny broke into my house, I wanted to take my own life."
He took the cigarette from his hand and took a deep drag. V held his breath and looked over at him for a moment, worried. He turned the music down, but Kerry stopped him, shaking his head. V understood, he needed the music, it gave him the courage to keep talking. And he wanted nothing more than to listen to his lover.
"I had already taken Archangel into the bath; I thought it would be quick, the blood would be washed away by the time someone found me. And then I heard the music outside, heard you."
He took a deep breath. The topic had apparently been on his mind for quite a while, and V was more than pleased that he finally brought it up. He had been wondering about such things back then, and Johnny seemed to have been concerned about his old friend, too. Kerry took another long drag on the cigarette before he flipped it out onto the street.
"You saved my life. Literally."
Kerry caressed his hand gently, as if afraid to break the young man beside him. He knew that was impossible, the deadly cybernetics under his skin were almost impenetrable, especially for him. Still... V was special, and he should be treated that way.
"You saved mine too, Ker," he replied softly.
Kerry looked to him, a mixture of surprise and concern.
"Me?"
"You. I had a couple of relationships before you.... Nothing that I want to go into detail about. Not because I'm keeping secrets from you, but because they're part of a life that doesn't belong to me anymore."
He stroked the back of his boyfriends' soft hand with his thumb as he briefly reminisced about his past. Kerry watched him. Another little thing about V that was hidden from everyone but him: his eyebrows always drew together slightly, and his nose wrinkled under the lines of his cybernetics when he was thinking. They were little things, but to Kerry they meant the world. Little things that were meant for his eyes only.
V shook his head briefly and smiled sweetly. He looked over at Kerry, his eyes briefly on his hand, then back to the road. He licked his lips before continuing to speak.
"You saved my life, yes," he repeated, nodding.
"I had given up, all of it. Relationships, friends, love. Me."
He watched as the stars passed by, slowly, yet always in harmony with the horizon. Stroked Kerry's hand which still rested on his. The stars reflected in his crystal-clear black eyes. Kerry could sink into them.
"And then I met you. A bumpy start, as we both know."
He laughed briefly, thinking back to his first encounter with Kerry, coughing and half-done by Johnny's sudden takeover.
"But the closer we got...wow. I had a crush on you. When we stood there on the balcony of Dark Matter and I finally dared to kiss you, I knew it was going to be you who gave me the life I'd always wanted."
Kerry smiled, his cheeks glowing hot and slightly pink. For once he was glad V couldn't see him in the darkness.
"I want to be by your side always Ker."
"Is that a proposal?" teased Kerry, half joking, half serious.
V just smiled, his heart almost jumping out of his chest.
"It is." He took Kerry's hand and placed it on his own lap, gently intertwining their fingers.
"Be my husband, Kerry. Now and forever."
"I could never say no to you, V."
They both didn't know where this road was taking them but they gladly drove it together.