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Neil was irritated to see the courier come back, and so soon: not even two hours had passed since they'd left. It was obvious they couldn't take a hint when given one.
"I've been listening to those broadcasts. Tabitha has no right to talk about her own kind that way."
Neil resisted the urge to roll his eyes, not needing human pity for the mutant condition-- even if the courier was only saying aloud what Neil had been thinking for almost three years now.
"I think I might be able to put a stop to all this," the courier said with far too much confidence.
"Just couldn't take my advice, huh? Your funeral," Neil told them morbidly, but they shook their helmeted head.
"Trust me, I'll be okay. Got plenty of medication for the radiation. But I could use your help-- and I'll offer this in return," the courier said while pulling out not one but two Stealth Boys from their pack.
"One for you, one for me. We do some recon unnoticed, then come up with a plan to get the second-gens out of there away from Tabitha."
Neil gaped at the Stealth Boy being willingly offered to him, rather than something to be taken by force-- the usual method of wasteland acquisition for this item. He almost didn't overcome his initial temptation to yank it out of the courier's hand, responding with a slow shake of his head instead.
"No, I-- don't need it. They won't shoot me on sight, but you are in great danger every second you're up there. Keep the spare for yourself."
The last thing Neil wanted was another human corpse on his conscience.
"All right, just thought I'd be fair and offer."
"Thanks, but those things are-- more trouble than they're worth for my kind," Neil said with difficulty, and to his surprise the courier didn't make some insensitive comment about it, just gave a grim nod.
"We good to move out now, then, or should we wait for nightfall?"
Neil couldn't help snorting in amusement at that. "You've got Stealth Boys. We can go whenever."
"Right. Let's go now."
--
Further up the mountain, Neil was starting to get nasty looks.
Oh sure, no one would fight him-- not without Tabitha's encouragement, at least-- but it was still scary as hell that his own kind was so against his presence there that they were staring him down without blinking when he passed.
The fact that they stayed in Stealth mode while Neil walked by instead of phasing back into a more visible form meant they were already so addicted and paranoid that old first-gens intimidated them.
Even in their Stealth, Neil could see them, shimmering-- it took a keen eye even for a mutant, but he could still see the barest hint of their faces when they got close for a few moments in passing. And a couple seconds was enough to tell that they hated him now, for siding with Marcus's split. For daring to question Tabitha's superiority at all.
It took all of Neil's willpower not to just run all the way up; he knew that's what the courier was doing, moving as fast as possible on their limited timer with the Stealth Boy device. But Neil was walking slowly and deliberately to hold their attention. He walked with purpose, like he was meant to be there. Because he was meant to be there: this was his home still, was it not? Just because he'd left for half a year didn't change things.
Or did it?
Best not to examine that thought trail too closely, Neil decided.
When he reached the satellite area, he saw a shimmer by the door to one of the small storage buildings and smirked, realizing it was the courier. They'd scouted well and no one else was around at the moment to see them pausing to pick the lock on the storage room door; Neil watched with interest as they made their way in, the door opening and closing seemingly on its own.
By the time he'd caught up with them inside, he couldn't see the courier right away behind all the shelves full of miscellaneous items-- but he heard them speak in an astonished tone.
"Hello, what's this now...?"
Neil heard the familiar sound of a Stealth Boy being switched off. Maneuvering around the shelves, he saw that the courier had found table where Tabitha kept her dead robot-- Randy? No, it was a classier name... Rhonda, that was it.
"That's Tabitha's robot," Neil explained from a safe distance, keeping his voice low to avoid being detected by the nightkins' excellent hearing.
He'd steered clear of this storage shed in his personal recon, not liking the way the robot seemed like it could get up at any time despite being visibly broken. It gave him the creeps.
"None of us knew how to fix it after it malfunctioned, and that's when Tabitha lost her mind."
"I can probably fix this, I know this model," the courier murmured, turning Rhonda over in a slow rotation and examining her.
"But it's not like-- programmed to be a death robot or something, is it? It won't attack me as soon as I power it up?" they clarified in a nervous whisper, looking up at him for reassurance.
Neil wanted to laugh, but held it back. It would sound suspicious to be laughing by himself in the storage shed, and the last thing he wanted was for the nightkin to get curious and come looking in here to see what was so funny.
"No, and it's your best shot at getting Tabitha out of here without a fight-- if you can fix it in the next few minutes before someone on patrol comes in here for a sweep," he said in a dubious tone.
The courier smiled wide at that, revealing stained but whole yellow teeth in healthy pink gums.
"Just watch me."
And Neil did, staring with rapt attention as the courier produced a small kit of variously-sized wire bits, some tools, and a tiny soldering iron, proceeding to work at a surprising speed to repair Rhonda. They pried the back panel off the robot and began tinkering around, making occasional "hmm"s and "oh"s while they concentrated.
Neil should have watched the door, so he could have given a heads up for the human to turn the Stealth Boy back on in case someone came in. But the courier's fingers moved so fast that Neil couldn't look away: it was utterly fascinating. He wanted to ask how they knew so much about robots, but didn't dare distract them. The minutes ticked by, and Neil watched with bated breath hoping the courier's confident air from earlier was merited.
"Good thing I've got a couple spare fission batteries to juice this thing up," they said with relish while loading the small but solidly heavy power cells into place.
"I was going to sell them at the last traveling caravan, but something told me not to. Glad I listened to my gut," they muttered as they worked to solder new wiring in to replace some that had rusted out, connecting the new batteries to where they needed to supply power.
Feeling the adrenaline rush from the risk of possibly being caught by Tabitha or her goons, Neil realized he was grateful that this courier was taking a risk that he could not: that a human was actually trying to help mutants for once.
Marcus sure would love to see this, he thought with an internal sigh, missing his old friend now more than ever.
Maybe Marcus had been right all along. Perhaps Neil had been... stubborn in his refusal to see humans as potential allies.
After the courier popped the last piece into place and made sure it was solidly stuck, they flicked the main power switch on the robot's back. Rhonda's inner workings began to hum and she levitated off the table, turning upright and hovering just above the floor like all robots of her type. Neil stumbled back a step as he recoiled, shocked at the courier's success.
"Hello. Could you please direct me to mistress Tabitha?"
The robot's metallic voice was chipper, as if it hadn't known or cared about being inactive on a table for three years.
"S-sure, I guess," the courier said, clearly also startled that the robot was so single-minded.
"I don't know where she is though."
"I do," Neil said, feeling uneasy at the prospect of sneaking this robot all the way up to Tabitha's room in the control tower.
"You should put your Stealth Boy back on just in case," he warned the courier, and they did.
However, he need not have worried, because as soon as they left the storage shed Tabitha was already right there: and when she saw the robot, her mouth fell open in total awe.
The nightkins' self-appointed leader took off her heart-shaped glasses to rub at her eyes, as if unable to believe what she was seeing.
"R-Rhonda? Is that you?" she asked, her voice sounding uncharacteristically shaky and almost near tears.
"It is, Mistress Tabitha," Rhonda replied brightly, floating over towards her.
"How I've missed you so. This stranger here fixed me up right as rain. Are they a friend of yours?"
The courier powered down the Stealth Boy again, knowing they'd been outed.
Tabitha blinked, then gawked at the courier, seeming to struggle with processing that a human had somehow made it up here undetected and had also done her the biggest favor possible.
And as usual, Neil wasn't being noticed much at all-- the patrolling nightkin had gathered round to stare in wonder at the human, with Neil on the sidelines to the spectacle.
"I... don't know how to thank you for bringing Rhonda back to me, stranger," Tabitha said at last, holding one blue hand out in an invitation to shake.
"You're welcome," the courier replied in a smug voice as they shook hands, and Neil was so amused at how things with this brazen little human had turned out.
He couldn't wait to tell Marcus about all this, that was for sure.
"It's just... such a shock to see Rhonda up and about again. I'm not sure what to do now," Tabitha admitted, but Rhonda chimed in.
"Mistress Tabitha, we should be heading off. Our journey has been much delayed, but we can catch up if we hurry. Come along, now."
The robot began to hover along the road that would take them down the mountain at a rather fast clip.
"Yes Rhonda," Tabitha said dutifully, then seemed to remember something, digging in her pocket.
"Here, take this. I won't be needing it anymore," she said, handing the courier a key.
"Hey wait, what's this for?" the courier asked, but Tabitha was already jogging away to catch up with Rhonda as the two of them began chatting, off in their own little world.
"Most likely it's to the storage shed, not that you needed it," Neil said in a wry tone.
"Ah, right."
Now the courier was staring around looking nervous, one hand clamped around the key and the other fingering over what Neil knew was the Stealth Boy in their pocket; the nightkin were sizing the human up with increasing suspicion.
For they had just watched Tabitha wander off with Rhonda without a single word or even a look back, and they were not happy with this turn of events. The duo was already out of sight on the lower road, and the group was agitated without their charismatic leader.
"You make Tabitha leave us," one of them growled, and Neil growled louder to cut them off.
"Tabitha was never your leader. She has her own," he said, capturing their attention at last while the courier sank back against a wall in relief.
"That robot is her keeper, and the only reason she said any of the things she did about ruling Black Mountain was out of grief at losing its presence in her life. Now that they're reunited she has no use for this place, and neither do you all. But there's someone who cares about your wellbeing, someone I can take you to."
"Who?"
"Marcus," Neil said, sighing patiently when the name evoked some noises of annoyance among the group.
"I know, I know. He left us. But he went to find a place that is better than here. No Deathclaws, no radiation, just clean mountain air. And space enough for all of us," Neil added, seeing the nightkin giving one another dubious looks.
"It's a long journey, but if we stick together we can make it there safe and sound. I've done it before."
"And will Marcus make us stop using our Stealth?" one of the nightkin hissed.
"I don't know, but he wouldn't do it just to punish you," Neil said, taking his time to be careful choosing his words.
He was trying his best to be placating, knowing that if Marcus had succeeded in finding a human scientist that it probably meant they'd attempt to cure the nightkin of their Stealth Boy addiction.
Besides, Jacobstown was too far Northwest to continue looting vaults and human settlements for new Stealth Boys, which is what the nightkin had been doing from here to restock their supply. He didn't have the heart to tell them that though, knowing that whatever withdrawals they'd go through would be hell.
But he couldn't leave them here to terrorize the local populations any longer... whatever fate they were destined to have, they should all face it together rather than apart. Mutants deserved to have community, not isolation. It was the only way they could heal from their tortured pasts.
"Tabitha not coming back?"
That came from one of the second-gens, and they sounded so scared that Neil understood why they had still rallied to her in the first place despite being mistreated: the world was terrifying to face alone.
"No, she's not coming back," Neil said. "And I'm sorry she's abandoned you. But I won't. I can take you to Jacobstown, and you'll all be safe there. I promise."
"Why should we trust you? You barely one of us," one of the nightkin said with disdain, and the comment stung more than Neil would have liked to admit.
"Yeah. Maybe you lying," another nightkin growled. "Maybe you want Black Mountain all to yourself."
Then to everyone's surprise, the courier spoke up.
"You ungrateful brutes don't even know when you're being given an olive branch, do you?"
There were scandalized noises around the group, huffs of anger and stamping of feet.
"What you say, human? You want me to rearrange your bones?"
The courier strode right up to the nightkin that had spoken last, staring into their shimmering face as if they could actually see it-- and maybe they could, Neil mused.
"You really expect me to believe that some of the things Tabitha was saying and doing didn't bother you? She called half of you dumb-dumbs and treated the other half like her personal security entourage, while she sat up in that control tower all day expecting you all to do the hard work of surviving in this godforsaken place. Neil is trying to help you, to take you to a place where you can be free and thrive. Where you can live in peace with your mutant brethren. Don't you want that?"
"We free here, and doing just fine until you came along," another nightkin said in a nasty tone.
"I know I'm the reason Tabitha left, because I fixed her precious robot," the courier continued after the nightkin closest to them growled again.
"So hate me if you wish. I'll leave in the morning and be out of your way forever. But don't hate Neil on my account... the only reason I'm here at all is because he trusted me to find a way to get you all out from under Tabitha's thumb," they pointed out.
"Following him to Jacobstown is your best shot at being happy in this wasteland of a world, and I think most of you know it. Besides, what does it say about Tabitha that she left as soon as Rhonda was repaired? She didn't even say goodbye. Neil has stayed right here, ready to help you all when the opportunity presented itself."
Murmurs, sighs, low muttering. Neil felt a real smile pulling at his chapped lips as he realized the courier was getting through to them.
"What so special about that robot anyway," one of the second-gens said, sounding angry.
"Yeah. Why she need a robot friend when she have us?" another chimed in.
"Tabitha liked that robot more than she liked any of you," the courier said with bitterness, then seemed to regret it when a second-gen let out a wail of despair.
"I'm sorry, I didn't say you're unlikeable! There, there," they soothed, patting the miserable second-gen on the back.
A human, comforting a mutant?
Neil couldn't help but find the situation absurdly funny-- this was the second laugh he'd had to swallow today.
How this courier had managed to do more in three hours than Neil had in as many years, he couldn't understand.
But he was grateful.
--
Falling asleep easily in his old bed, Neil had woken at dawn refreshed and invigorated like he hadn't felt in such a long time.
He went outside, trying not to be upset that he was only going to enjoy the view from up here for another few hours before leaving it forever. But such was life, right?
At least he'd gotten to see it one more time, and today's sunrise was spectacular: the air was so clear that he could see far across the wasteland, everything bathed in pink-orange light.
Neil wiped away treacherous wetness leaking from his eyes while breathing deep. No, the air wasn't nearly as fresh and clean as it was in Jacobstown but... he would miss this regardless.
After breakfast Neil found himself looking through one of the computer terminals. They were still on and functioning, and he couldn't help being curious as to why. He'd never had enough time on his previous quick recon checks to look at them, so now he sat down and opened up the documents folder.
Following the pre-war stuff and Marcus's brief post he found a few entries from Tabitha, deciding to skim through them to see if he could possibly get any info on where she had gone.
The leader of this community, Marcus, said I should start keeping a journal to get my mind off of Rhonda. He also said I might find something interesting inside this stupid old building. What could possibly be interesting here? The only thing that works in here is this junky old terminal.
After a couple of entries about fixing up the radio station and lamenting that no one was able to fix Rhonda for her, the tone of Tabitha’s entries grew disturbing.
There was a fight in the yard between some of us and the first gens. Marcus made a speech about how we need to work together, but why should we? We were the master’s favorites! We don’t need their help. Rhonda says we’d be better off without them.
Neil grimaced, unable to help the surge of disgust at Tabitha even though she was gone now. But he kept reading…
Marcus and the others left today. Finally, we have the whole place to ourselves! No more listening to lectures about what we can and can’t say on the air. The airwaves will be free!
Now Rhonda and I can host our own radio show like we’ve been planning. I don’t know why Marcus always refused to let us do it before. He always started getting real nervous when I told him what Rhonda thought about things. Rhonda says he was afraid she was too smart to control.
Anyway, this is the start of a new era! The only downside is most of the dumb dumbs chose to stay.
Neil sighed harshly and almost stopped reading at that, but a word caught his eye on the next entry: ghoul. He kept reading, fascinated.
Great news! A ghoul entered our camp today who has experience fixing machines! He seems to really like it here, so I hope he can stay long enough to fix Rhonda.
Weird, Rhonda just asked me why she would need fixing. She has a point. What was I thinking?
Then, the entries switched authors again: now it seemed to Neil that the ghoul was the one writing them.
Apparently, the mutants raided a caravan today. One of their rifles jammed. Took about seven minutes to fix. I also performed minor maintenance on the broadcasting tower outside. It’s tempting to think that I could have just pulled a switch there and taken this accursed station off the air. No doubt she would have killed me soon afterward, but it might have been worth it just to see the look on her face.
Mouth hanging open in horror, Neil kept reading. The ghoul had tried to escape, but had been severely beaten for it, and another mutant had been killed for threatening the ghoul’s life. Tabitha’s reign truly had been bloody.
Then he came to the final entry on the terminal.
Tabitha came in today and said she’s concerned about my safety. She’s insisted that I change the lock on my door to require a password, using one of the other computers I fixed. I’m really starting to regret ever fixing those.
The password is 123456789. Like anyone who cares will ever read this.
Neil stood up from his chair.
"Look at this," Neil called to the courier, who was still poking around for any loot worth selling.
"She has someone hidden away here."
"Hmmm. There was a door I couldn't pick the lock on at the back of the first storage shed I came across yesterday," the courier said in a contemplative voice.
"It broke three of my pins right away, so I gave up."
Neil went back to reading the words in the screen in front of him.
"We've got our door code right here."
They used the computer nearest the door to open it with the code, and both made noises of shock to see someone inside.
For a moment, there was only tense silence. Then the ghoul spoke in a raspy, softly-accented voice.
“I haven’t heard a fresh batch of cr*zy coming out of the radio in a while. Does that mean I can leave?”
“Who are you?” the courier blurted out, and the ghoul didn’t seem fazed by the abrupt question.
“Name’s Raul. Raul Alfonso Tejada, former gunslinger and sole survivor of Hidalgo Ranch, at your service. I’m the mechanic around here,” he said with a dry chuckle.
“Look at you though!” he added, giving the courier a once-over.
“A human all the way up here in the radiation. You got some kind of death wish?”
“No, just plenty of Rad-X,” the courier said with a smirk, holding out their gloved hand to shake.
Raul took it, though he seemed rather confused by this turn of events.
“Tabitha is gone,” Neil said by way of explanation, finding the words very satisfying to say.
Raul’s eyebrows—or at least, the area of his forehead that would have been his eyebrows if he’d still had them—raised in surprise as he turned his attention to Neil.
“Really. So you’re in charge now, or what?”
“I’m rounding up the mutants to leave this place,” Neil said. “So you may go wherever you like.”
The ghoul sighed, sounding almost more frustrated than relieved to hear that.
"Where will you go?" the courier asked, and Raoul shrugged.
"Got a shack North of the city I could go back to," he said. "But I'm in no big rush. Anywhere is better than here."
"Well, would you like to travel with me for a while? I'm going South to Searchlight and could use some backup. You said you used to be a gunslinger? I’ve got a weapon you can use."
"Sounds good to me boss," Raoul said, giving a slow mock-salute to the courier.
Neil thanked the human for all their help, and wished them and Raoul well while traveling the wastes. When he watched the strange duo depart, he couldn't help acknowledging a strange pang of sadness as he knew the odds were that he would never see this cocky courier again, nor the mysterious ghoul.
But he had his own group to look after.
"In the morning, we leave for Jacobstown," he'd told them yesterday. "It's a long journey and we won't be stopping often. So rest up tonight."
Now he went around gathering them all together, making sure no one was left behind. There was a fair bit of grumbling, but Neil ignored it and they all made it off the mountain by midday.
And as they set out on their way, he was happy to be finally fulfilling Marcus's request. Imagining the pleased look on his leader's face made Neil feel warm in a way that had nothing to do with the desert's relentless heat.
Still, he couldn't help one final look over his shoulder when they'd walked a couple of kilometers, sighing as he bid a silent farewell to the place where he'd once felt free.
And Black Mountain sat unmoving in its own stoic silence, the majestic peak shrinking smaller and smaller behind them until it was out of sight.
--
"Neil!"
Marcus's voice rang out with both surprise and joy as he called out his friend's name, and if Neil hadn't been so exhausted from the long journey he would have run forward the last few yards. As it was, he settled for a wide grin while he slowly strode up.
"We made it," he said, only a little out of breath in the thinner mountain air.
The nightkin were looking around the lodge property, making appraising noises in their excitement to have arrived at last.
"Indeed you did. I'm so happy you're all here," Marcus said, beaming, and Neil wished they were alone-- he didn't feel confident enough to embrace his leader here.
But then Marcus was moving towards him with his arms outstretched, and Neil was glad his leader had confidence enough for both of them as they hugged.
"Missed you," Neil sighed, leaning his weight into Marcus in a way that was only partly due to tiredness.
"You too, old friend," Marcus murmured back.
But then the comfortable hold they had on each other was broken too soon for Neil's liking as Marcus pulled back, greeting the nightkin with firm handshakes and companionable shoulder-claps.
Neil noticed he didn't hug anyone else, though.
Yet Marcus seemed rather evasive, not meeting Neil’s eyes as he took them all in and showed them to their quarters in the lodge.
It wasn't until later, when most of the nightkin had gone to bed to rest, that Neil was able to approach Marcus by himself.
"Take a walk with me?"
Marcus smirked. "Could do a perimeter check, sure."
The stars were so bright, here, and Neil couldn't help commenting on it as they began walking.
"Yes... I'm still getting used to it," Marcus said. "Not on the night shift so I don't see it much."
"Oh?" Neil wondered if that had anything to do with the fight they'd had under these very stars years ago, but he didn't dare ask.
"Yeah. This is the latest I've stayed up since..."
Marcus trailed off, then looked away, and Neil realized they were both thinking about that night. Well, best to bite the bullet now.
Neil had spent plenty of time on the long journey thinking things over, determining what he should say to Marcus. And he'd decided it was time to put his pride aside.
"...I'm sorry, Marcus. You were right about not all humans being bad for mutants."
Marcus exhaled audibly and nodded.
"I'm... glad you have opened your mind to that."
Neil told his leader about the courier fixing Rhonda, and Marcus's tired expression turned amused in the soft starlight.
"So even Tabitha got what she wanted in the end."
"Seems like it."
They were about halfway around the camp now, walking along the outside of the wall of trees that Neil had helped make when they'd first arrived here.
"So... who's Dr. Henry?" Neil asked.
Marcus had told the nightkin that he'd introduce them all to someone named Dr. Henry in the morning, and Neil had a sneaking suspicion the guy wasn't a mutant-- but no one had questioned it, being too eager to sleep in a real bed again.
"Ah, he's a human. A scientist."
"You got one after all. Congratulations."
"Thanks," Marcus said, but he sounded almost embarrassed.
"Not looking forward to telling the nightkin they can't use their Stealth Boys any more, though.”
"I'll help with that," Neil said, and his stomach flipped at the relieved look Marcus gave him.
"That would be most appreciated."
Anything for you, Neil wanted to say, but what came out was "Sure, no problem."
"Dr. Henry is working on a cure," Marcus said as they walked in step with one another.
"He's witnessed Nightstalkers nearby that can Stealth and thinks there might be a mutation in their genes that he can identify and replicate."
"Sounds complicated. I'll leave the science to him," Neil said with a chuckle, and Marcus answered it with one of his own.
"Indeed. He's very smart."
"So are you," Neil countered, and Marcus shook his head.
"Not in matters of anatomical science. Even before the Unity, I was a historical writer. Not a biologist."
"But you knew where to find someone who could help the nightkin," Neil pointed out.
"Where did you find him, anyway?"
"He found us," Marcus said as he looked up at the night sky.
"It felt like destiny, Neil. A human who just so happens to wander close enough to Jacobstown to get noticed by us, and he's a scientist? Felt too good to be true."
"That's how I felt leaving Black Mountain with the group. Like it couldn't actually be working out this well," Neil admitted.
"But we've done it. We've reunited the mutants of the wasteland and are trying our best to help them. We make a good team," Marcus said with pride.
Neil wanted to kiss him.
"Marcus, do you-- ever think about that last night we spent at Black Mountain?" he asked boldly, the earnest conversation between them combining with sleep deprivation to loosen his tongue.
Marcus stopped in his tracks at that, an almost guilty expression on his face.
"I try not to," he said, and Neil was wracked with doubt.
"Did you regret it?"
"Oh, no, I-- no," Marcus replied in a quiet voice, eyes on his feet.
"Just... didn't want to dwell on something that won't happen again."
"You don't want it to happen again?" Neil asked, trying to sound casual and failing.
"Didn't say that," Marcus said hastily as he took a step away.
"It's late, we should get back."
But this time, in a mirror of what had happened years ago at Black Mountain, now it was Neil who took his leader's hand in a fit of desperation.
"I've thought of that night a lot, Marcus," he whispered.
Marcus looked down at their joined hands and swallowed hard.
"You've changed, Neil," he murmured.
"Is that a bad thing?" Neil asked, unsure of whether to be nervous or not.
But a second later his leader squeezed his hand, and finally looked him in the eyes: they were twinkling from the stars reflected in them.
"No," Marcus said, somehow making the negative word sound full of positivity.
"Then... can we make a new memory of kissing under these stars?" Neil ventured.
And then he couldn't see anything, for when Marcus kissed him Neil belatedly realized that his eyes had closed.
His leader's lips on his own felt like coming home. Like home was no longer a physical place, but had manifested in the bond they shared.
Neil would never bash humans as long as he lived... because if it hadn't been for that meddlesome over-confident courier, he'd still be stuck in that horrid shack. He was back with Marcus at last, and all seemed right with the world again.
Time lost its meaning as they kissed, exploring each other's mouths with a deliberate slow eagerness; neither one of them wanted to rush through this long-awaited re-acquaintance. Then Neil's tongue traced over Marcus's lower lip in a gentle motion and his leader moaned, making Neil shiver in response.
Marcus was holding him with just as much urgency now as on that night three years ago, and Neil rejoiced to feel these sensations again. The hug from earlier was nothing compared to this, and he was so glad that he hadn't been the only one missing it.
But too soon Neil's body was protesting, saying that he needed sleep.
"Tired," he sighed into the corner of Marcus's mouth, and his leader chuckled.
"Course you are... you should get some rest," he said, cupping the back of Neil's head in a tender gesture of affection.
"With you?" Neil asked, hoping that he wouldn't have to sleep alone tonight.
"Could ask Keene to take over the rest of my shift," Marcus said after only a moment's hesitation, and Neil smiled before kissing his leader's cheek.
"I'd like that."