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Tartaglia stood adjacent to the subway train flying past. Discarded newspapers scattered around the station with the gust, despite the tube-line’s barriers. The air in front of him fogged as he exhaled with utter exhaustion.
London was a shithole and Ajax was no stranger to the cold and unrelenting city. Smoke from some burnt out middle-aged woman’s cigarette licked at his nostrils, clogging his senses with less than welcome fumes. He coughed. If his past lovers taught the man anything, it’s that Tartaglia never liked the taste.
The chattering cold finally creeped its way through his fur-lined puffer jacket as he sauntered back to warmth.
A man awaited him, casually shuffling over to welcome more room for both. Ajax ruffled his boyfriend’s crimson hair as he sunk back into the silver seats lining the tracks. Diluc smiled wearily at their lover and almost as if he couldn’t help it, Tartaglia smiles back.
-
Tartaglia checks his watch for the time impatiently. Diluc was half asleep, resting on his shoulder. The eerie intent of what the two were here to do in the first place hung in the air and crept into his lungs more than the cold of dusk.
He checks his watch again.
01:43
With a sigh the man gently shakes his lover awake. He is greeted with a grin from the man.
“time?”
“yeah” Ajax mumbles, leaning into Diluc and pressing their lips together. This earns a chuckle from the other.
“come on harbinger” Diluc runs his fingers through Tartaglia’s ginger hair. The once silk and lively locks reduced to a tangled mess. The state of the two lovers was clear as day.
They weren’t here to catch a train.
Tartaglia reaches for the hand locked in his hair, interlocking the fingers. He brings the hands back down to his lips, brushing his lips against the calloused area of Diluc’s palm. “yessir” He smiles into the other’s hand, letting Diluc pull him up as he stood.
The tapping of their feet echoed throughout the desolate station. The howling of the wind and whirring of the approaching trains whistled past their Ajax’s ears. All he could hear was the heartbeat slamming in his chest and tearing through his whole body. The potent ache swallowed his head as Diluc pulled his partner down onto the train tracks.
“hah” Tartaglia sputtered as he stumbled onto the gravel scraping his bare knees. He could not help but adore the way Diluc’s laughter echoed through the station. The other red head pulled Ajax back to his feet with a beaming smile. Awe fluttered in Tartaglia’s stomach, though the feeling of uncertainty ripped through him like a hurricane.
Albeit Ajax pulled his counterpart into a loose embrace, burying his head into the crook of Diluc’s scarred neck.
The pair stood silently on the tracks, just indulging in one another as the whir of the engine grew louder. Diluc rests his face in Tartaglia’s ginger locks.
“You’re the love of my life”
“You’re so kitsch” Ajax replies with a chuckle.
“I’m crazy for you” Diluc pulls the man closer and breathes in his scent.
“You’re my whole world, firefly”.
And with that, the soft whirring of the train became the roar of an engine. Ajax grinned as the other pulled his head out from his shoulder. He held Tartaglia’s face with infatuation and he followed in suit.
A flash of red and smoke and their lips were interlocked with rigor.
An overwhelming sensation of burning tore through his body. Only for a moment could he feel his body mangle with the scraping metal shattering his system.
And then there was nothing.
Romance isn’t dead, but Diluc and Ajax Ragnvindr sure were.